Post Holiday Blues? Contemplating the state of the world?

I woke up this morning with a chip on my shoulder, wondering what the freaking point of it all is. I was sad, cranky, and just plain pissed off at the world.

Last night, we put up Adam's new maps, his Christmas presents. I bought him giant laminated maps of the world, the U.S. and of Africa. They look so nice in our room, and are pleasant to stare at, and to wonder about all the places we could go. I was so happy to buy them for him, because he and I share a love of maps, and share a love of wondering about the world.


When we put them up, I took pictures of them, and then I took pictures of the books by his bedside table, also full of Christmas presents, the books he is reading (Deception: Pakistan, the United States, and the Secret Trade in Nuclear Weapons, Far and Beyon' by Unity Dow ( The first female high court judge in Botswana), and Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.)

I love what it says about a man who wants these things for Christmas, the maps, the books, the desire to understand the world and change it where he can.


So anyway, we put up the maps, and went on with the night. I took a bath, he ran to the store for milk, and then we put the baby to bed. It was a quiet and uneventful evening, an evening that brought me to my sour mood this morning.

And then this news today: The Assassination of Benazir Bhutto. I cannot express how sad this makes me. It isn't as if it is surprising, but saddening just the same. And perhaps it is the fact that it really seemed inevitable that makes it so saddening. So I consider this assassination, and then I consider the state of Pakistan, and then the state of the War in Iraq, and then the state of......everything ... and I wonder, what is RIGHT about the world?

And did I mention my maybe not so paranoid conviction that Mike Huckabee will be our next president? People seem to love him, the same people that got our current president elected do anyway. Sigh. Call me crazy, but we will see soon enough. I hope I am crazy. I hope I am way wrong.

I typically make great efforts not to let things like this get me down, and I try my very best to focus on what is good with the world, and how fortunate I am in my own personal life. Maybe by dumping this off here and moving in to the important (although at times mundane) work of raising a child and teaching him how to spell his own name, I will be able to step out of my Thursday morning funk.

Peace and love ya'll.