Good Morning and Happy New Year Digital Neighbors! Happy Monday ADD Irregulars, WSN Contributors, Friends & Refugees, PHAM & Misfits, Ealy Birds & Later Dayers, Dawn Patrol and Night Owls, Conversants and Lurkers, and all the rest of you Seekers and Wanderers on Locals.

A few words from Arlene, she has some good thoughts to share at the beginning of this New Year. My rambling commentary offered after you appreciate her pearls of wisdom and words of hope. My commentary is probably TL;DR but those of you familiar with me might be tempted to give it go. Enjoy!

TOGETHER

We are in this together.
Everything belongs to all of us:
rough days and rainbows,
dirty wash and sun-drenched skies,
hungry hearts and fall harvests,
angry words and healing prayers.
Whether you put your foot in the water or not,
the waves will roll in and out.
The starling in the snow finds the squirrel’s discarded stash.
Smile.
Breathe.
Life goes on.
Be grateful.
We are in this together.

ARLENE GAY LEVINE

I couldn't agree more with the overall sentiment of Arlene's prose, the human family shares a common space and those with whom we rub elbows are our neighbors even if we fail to recognize them as such. We have far more in common than we realize with our neighbors, but the vast sea of them do not live lives of active engagement, but rather this sleep walking that is modern life. Perhaps it has always been that way throughout history, maybe most people are sleep walking from one day to another without a deeper examination of life, without questioning what their life is, where it is going, ever really wondering what this experience of living is meant to be? As Alasdair MacIntyre states in After Virtue - A Study in Moral Theory “I can only answer the question ‘What am I to do?’ if I can answer the prior question ‘Of what story or stories do I find myself a part?”

Many do not seem to question the story, their story, the story being sold to us day in and day out by our self-appointed betters and self-anointed superiors. I have ranted about the Cabal on and off here at Locals since I became active in May of 2020. I lurked about for six or so months before contributing to the Rubin Report or Phetasy when I took the step in believing that I could encounter digital neighbors here. Facebook had turned sour and divisive with the 2016 election and the coming of the DON. By April of 2020 the mask was coming off of the Covid narrative with a silencing of any critical thinking or questioning. Conform or you hate Grandma and babies!!!! FB doubled down on selling conformity, group-feeling and herd-thinking. That was the sign that it was time to find different digital neighbors. I am thankful that I did. I do miss the good people I left there, but not the self righteous paternalism of Facebook. Paternalism should be rechristened parentalism, the Nanny State and its operatives want to help you for your own good.

I am not a person of expectation since that too often seems to be a projection of my desires or imaginings rather than a honest assessment of the situation one is given. I am not saying we shouldn't have expectations, but they should be careful considered and adopted before just being assumed and placed upon others. Few things have made me more unhappy in life than the expectations I placed upon family or friends without their awareness, consent or even discussion. The converse is also true. I probably think too often of expectation because I have seen more frustration, sorrow or unneeded misunderstanding arise from it than good.

Sorry for that aside, it is the beginning of a new year so one wonders what it might hold and that is a form of expectation or at least anticipation. And yet anticipation is different from expectation, one it tempted to expect from another, one ought to anticipate for him or herself. "Be prepared" as the Boy Scouts used to say. Is that their motto anymore?

As 2024 prepares to unfold, I pray to surround myself with good neighbors, actual and digital. I am thankful that many of my digital neighbors have become actual friends. Our coffee talk gatherings are about the closest I can get to meeting with friends at a morning diner to chat about whatever comes to mind. We have our set reoccurring talking points and concerns, but we never have a set agenda which is rather refreshing and we wander all over the field on any given morning. I look forward to our conversations, God only knows what the topic will be and I think He is occasionally surprised by them.

As I look beyond the circle of neighbors I do worry about how divided we have become because of the CABAL. They want division, they want discord and they are not afraid of violence and destruction if they think they can keep it from touching them. We frequently mention chaos in our morning chats and those willing to hit the spin cycle on it to achieve their ends. Neighbors, the flock or the mob, are often the same people. Depending on who they are listening to, what they are being fed and how are they are being told to think and feel makes them good neighbors, a friendly flock or an angry mob. Turning the masses into an angry mob is one of the most dangerous things that has happened and will probably happen again.

As 2024 unfolds, I pray we are all good neighbors and prepared ones. We want awareness without obsession, preparedness without paranoia, insight without cynicism, hopefulness without naivety. I am sure there are other balancing pairs out there, feel free to add you own.

I am thankful for good places and good people. My life is incredibly blessed and I am thankful for a sense of peace even if I worry that 2024 will be the great ungluing of society. A final quote for your New Year and a Monday. Enjoy!

Our work-a-day lives are filled with opportunities to bless others. The power of a single glance or an encouraging smile must never be underestimated. - G. RICHARD RIEGER

Photo of "Winter" by Zimen at Ephotozine