I Wished upon a Star, but Nothing

Last January I wrote in one of my columns that I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions, but I did publish a wish list for the coming year. This was a list of things from the local to the global level that I, personally, would hope to see some progress in.

Obviously, I wasn’t naïve enough to suppose that all my wishes would be fulfilled within 2007, but I was hoping there would be some progress made toward my eventual wish fulfillment.

So, in reflecting back on 2007, let’s take a look at what, if any, progress has been made toward making my wishes come true.

The short answer is, precious little. It’s no big surprise, but somewhat disappointing. Still I hold out hope and carry over these wishes into 2008.

Locally, I wished for increased growth and development within Edinburgh proper and the Edinburgh school district. I don’t see much evidence that significant growth has taken place over the past year. It is nice, though, to see new commercial development on the south end of town, including a mall expansion.

A wish I had for the state General Assembly was for it to pass, or at least begin considering, legislation that would ban all smoking in public buildings and within enclosed places, like cars, when there are children present.

The state has done nothing. But localities are continuing to jump on the no-smoking bandwagon. Bloomington is especially friendly to smoke-free environments as it is currently considering a ban on smoking in cars when children are present.

I was also hoping that, nationally, the new Democratic Congress would pass legislation overturning the decree of the almighty Bush monster that prohibited funding for stem cell research. And, in fact, Congress did pass such legislation, twice. But they didn’t have enough votes to override Bush’s veto. So his self-proclaimed, all-encompassing personal judgmental morality still reigns supreme.

I was also hoping Congress would allow the No Child Left behind Act to expire. Apparently, I won’t get my wish there, either. But there may be some changes in the legislation that may more closely reflect the reality of education instead of mandating a pipe dream.

I also wished that world leaders would get together and start seriously planning for the use of alternative fuels that won’t pollute the environment or exacerbate global warming. There may be a start in that area, but only a start. And the Bush administration is continuing to do whatever it can to make sure America doesn’t contribute to the progress.

After all, it’s the unspoken position of the Bush administration that we don’t need to save the future for our kids since the Rapture is surely upon us. Which leads me to my main wish for next year, and that is the next president will have a modicum of common sense and logic, and that his, or her, mind will be open to rational thought processes. He, or she, should also keep their religious beliefs out of the Oval Office.

But I’ll have a fuller list of wishes for 2008 coming up next month.