All In All Not Too Bad

The twilight hours of 2009 are upon us. Tonight, hundreds of millions will celebrate the beginning of a new year and a new decade in the hope that tomorrow will bring with it a new promise, a fresh start, better days.

Of course if the Mayans and Nicholas Cage are to be believed, all of this jubilation will be futile in a few, short years when we all die in a spontaneous cataclysmic event of superbly choreographed special effects. But that is neither here nor there.

We will look back on all the events of this past year that have shaped us as a people and shaped us as individuals. Some were good. Some were bad. Some were hard to categorize at all.

America got a new President. Twitter took over our social lives. Iranians took to the street to stand up against their oppressors. Americans rekindled their revolutionary roots with 21st Century tea parties. Israel fought a grueling battle with fanatical Islamists. Afghanistan returned to the headlines. Tiger Woods bogeyed his personal life. A homely housemaid in England became an overnight superstar. The classified section suddenly became relevant again.

2009 will for me be the year that I was able to free myself--from uncertainty, aimlessness, unhealthy entanglements, and fear. It has been a year of invaluable experiences, personal triumphs, and intellectual and spiritual growth.

Coming to live and study in Israel has been and continues to be the best decision I have ever made. And I am forever indebted to those who have made this two-year journey possible.

My gut feeling says that 2010 will be another challenging year for all of us. But after hurdling the obstacles of 2009, I believe that if faced with confidence and conviction these too will be overcome.

Thank you all for following my experiences here in the Promised Land. The support I have received from back home has been overwhelming and humbling.

I look forward to a whole new year of travels, encounters, and shenanigans.

I hope everyone has a great New Year's. And War Eagle!