Let’s make it a happy & healthy 2018 for all!

Record cold here in the American mid-west this winter, made pleasurable by the blinding sunshine, blue skies and a blanket of snow. Looking out onto the winter wonderland as I sit & type now, thinking that I will be leaving for Paris in a week’s time – where it will certainly be much warmer. Looking forward to that! The next time I will see the PBS brain at IU it will be much, much warmer.

When it is so cold here my mind always turns to the animals in the forest and how they manage to survive another winter. The deer are the most amazing – there is so little for them to eat right now & they are relying on our evergreens to sustain them.

We have the bird-feeders all topped up so that everyone can have their fill – suet, sunflower kernels & mixed seeds – different birds have their preferred tastes & needs.

I will miss seeing the continual march of creatures through the yard each day, but am also relishing the prospect of life in a very urban environment again for a semester.

So as I contemplate what my life will be like over the next semester or so, I ask this question: What should our main priorities be for 2018? Here is my list:

1. The welfare of our planet – its flora & fauna depend on us. Climate change is real. Let’s stop the denial and be proactive to help stop the increasing warming of the oceans & melting of icecaps. If we look after the world, it will in turn look after us – this is something that people most often tend to forget.
2. The welfare of our conspecifics. So much strife & misery & human suffering in the world is currently due to asinine political decisions at the national level, as well as at state and local government levels. Let’s try to make a difference & improve the wellbeing of our fellow Homo sapiens – irrespective of race, gender or religious beliefs. If everyone does something little, it will turn into something much bigger!
3. Our own welfare. You cannot achieve any good in the world if you do not take care of yourself. So make 2018 a year where you are kind to yourself – both body and mind – that way you can be of maximum benefit to others you care about! As for me, I am off to the ‘Y’ now to use the indoor track – much too cold for me to be ambulating outside right now… brrrrrr!!!