The optimist in me sees and hears the beginning of spring. Listen quietly and the birds are telling us that the worst is over. That the likelihood of 20 degrees and lower is dwindling and that while we may get a bit more snow, that for the most part precipitation will be rain and it will begin the cycle of sprouting buds and greening lawns.
The optimist in me watches the winter of our discontent (to borrow the phrase) begin to turn into a season of retribution and correction, and restatement of purpose. The compounding of egregious acts by our lame-brained President will accelerate as a sign of impending comeuppance and as his path becomes narrower and narrower, with fewer and fewer sycophants hanging on as they too begin the scramble for their political and ideological lives.
The optimist in me watches in amazement as the horror of a mass killing of children and their protectors spawns an activism never before expressed in the land. Perhaps indeed it will be the children who lead us towards a sensible solution of the gun debacle. After all, we adults have crumbled in the face of the gun lobby and its protectors. We have stood by as a Congress, bent on a selfishness of massive degree, has removed itself from any believable positive posture on the issue.
The optimist in me watches the rousing kindling of the women in our nation as they proclaim that "they have had enough and will take no more" when it comes to protection of their bodies and of their life's missions. Undoubtedly, they too will rise in defense of their children and for the children next door, around the corner and across the land.
As the earth shows sign of warming and of giving life in this early spring, take a moment to listen for the birds and to examine the buds. Peek in your back yard and see the crocuses and dandelions pushing through the soil saying "here I am". Soon to stand tall and be counted they await all of us, yes every one of us, to also stand and be counted...let's put value on the lives of our children, on our personal goals and ambitions, and on the country that has so much more to offer than our present decline...