So fast.

Another year past.

2014 almost gone.

2015 soon upon.

But…

YOU?

How did you do?  What did you do?  What did you do that really mattered?

Have you even thought about it that way? Or …

WERE YOU JUST TOO BUSY?

Have you considered how precious and fleeting each moment is?

How each breath extending our existence is an amazing blessing on this blue-green magical orb called earth?

An earth that travels through space at over 1,000 miles per hour and moves around the sun at 67,000 miles per hour?

Or did you have…

TOO MUCH TO DO?

Too much to do to stop for the wonder?

I did. I know. Sad. Yes.

 AND…

Have you considered that if the expansion rate of the universe was changed by one part in a trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion, faster or slower, life on earth would not exist?

TOO MANY EMAILS

Or did you have too many e-mails to think about that?

My inbox was pretty much always full.  Now my mobile text message box is too. Hold on … Pinterest is pintering me. Instagram is Instagramming me. And crap… the new social media networking app Plague is plaguing me.

TOO MANY TOO MANY’S

And Twitter tweeting. Facebook Fb’ing. LinkedIn linking in. GooglePlus plussing.. StumbleUpon stumbling.

And all the while, a world of wonder, magnificent and magical, motors on – with or without us.

There are just way too many too many’s.

A REALLY BIG INCH

Did you know that if a measuring tape were stretched across the universe and segmented in one-inch increments (billions upon indescribable gazillions of inches) representing the force strengths of nature (gravity, electromagnetism, weak and strong nuclear forces) and the tape was moved by just one inch in either direction, life on earth would not exist?

TOO MANY MEANINGLESS MEETINGS

Or were you too busy to think about that because you had to prepare for another meaningless meeting?

Too busy here – too many meetings. Too many meetings that had no meaning.

DID YOU KNOW?

Do you know what would happen if the cosmological constant (the energy density of space) was not tuned to one-part in a hundred million billion billion billion billion billion (10 followed by 120 zeroes)?

Life on earth would not exist.

TOO MANY PETTY WARS

Or were you too embroiled in petty internecine political turf wars, in business and life, to consider that?

I was too embroiled.

A LIGHT YEAR

Is about 5,865,696,000,000 miles (give or take a couple thousand).

AND A LONG MINUTE

According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty – that’s 21 children dying every minute, a child every three seconds. And worldwide…

• 10.6 million children died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (same as children population in France, Germany, Greece and Italy)
• 1.4 million die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation

EVER THINK ABOUT THAT?

22,000 children under the age of five –  21 each minute – die every day, mainly from preventable causes. And 1.4 million children a year die from lack of acces to safe drinking water? Water?

Sadly, as a credit to my self-absorbed selfish selfie inhumanity, I haven’t. That’s a truth that burns.

And,

 “They die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.” – Unicef

THE UNITED STATES OF SELFIES

But sadder? We who have the most don’t even think about it. We whine, complain, argue, fight, gossip. We waste time taking selfies. Selfies at home, selfies in the resturant, selfies driving the car, Selfies, selfies, selfish selfies. But we don’t really think about how blessed we are, how precious and fleeting life is. How, like 2014, is almost gone, we soon will be too.

ONE SIMPLE QUESTION

And in the end, would it’s almost over, when that last breath is staring down our windpipe how we will we answer this simple question, ‘what have you done that mattered?’

Have you thought about that? I have. And found myself wanting. But…

SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS

So fast.

Another year past.

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?

2014 almost gone.

2015 soon upon.

John Lennon wrote a song about this 43 years ago called “So This Is Christmas.” The lyrics were both timely and timeless.

TIMELY

They were turbulent times. Times much like today. Differing only in the increased speed, ferocity and utter destructiveness with which things happen. These times I mean. Not then.A sad commentary … we should be better. Get better.

TIMELESS

The lyricsof “So This is Chrostmas”  transcend time. Race. Creed. Sex. Religion. Age. Not many do. The words are a calling to stop, reflect, consider, act, and hope … hope for a better future.

2015, the road ahead, beckons.

Many will come.

Many will go.

You? Me?

Who ever knows?

For you … I offer best wishes. Now, listem. Think. Reflect.

SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS – WARNING – GRAPHIC IMAGES

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun

And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

So this is Christmas
A very Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong

And so happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let’s stop all the fight

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
And what have we done
Another year over
A new one just begun

And so happy Christmas
We hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear

War is over, if you want it
War is over now
War is over now

###

Best of luck to you and yours in 2015.

– Steve Kayser