Happy 2009/1430!!! Yes That means it's a NEW YEAR (alreadyyyyyy!) Oh how insanely quick the time flew by. I have many of my own regrets for the year that passed, but I think the gain was greater, therefore out with the old and in with the new. I could remember when I was younger how anything in the 21st century seemed like light-years away. It just was not relevant to the reality of young people. It was like the equation of what you seen in the fiction movies...time travel, etc. And then we grow up and see all that had traversed since, and it brings back a longing for the past. A time when the days didn't only seem longer, but according to science actually were longer. The summers alone were these amazing parables of youthfulness. We've lost that luster. Why? I can remember the the fireflies and the butterflies and all the beautiful roses that grew in my backyard. Time was tied in immeasurable gratefulness. And then we grew up. The seasons have begun to melt catastrophically into each other and in effect dulling the senses of differentiability. Even the nightingale no longer knows its place. And the butterflies have moved on as have the many other expected observations of the seasons. Days and nights are shorter making a 24hr period the "real feel" extent of 12 hrs. That is the insanity of time passed by. No longer partying like it's 1999, but fast forward to the future you have to wonder what has become our time's song now? With so many one hit wonders...music is not even the same! Even I crave the classic flavor of the past when music made sense in all sense of the word. Beats were tight and lyrics clean and easy to follow least you should have to use your mind with the allegorical nature of what the music meant to you. Things made you think back then, you know...back in the day. We wished we could press a button to get us what we wanted faster, we dreamed of this future technology, the world at the grasp of a hand, but you know what...I know we would all press rewind in a heartbeat. Those were the days within the best of times ::sigh:: those were the days if only again, I could press rewind. Those were my days. (ok those born prior to the 80's and all that jazz, I will kindly excuse a polite roll of the eyes on this note!) It was fresh dopeness then. The games we played, the style we had, the rare emotion of living isolated from the drama of a humanity crying. Of course there was always the Do's and Don'ts, but that's okay because everyone made a political statement. People cared and young'ns had manners. In all audacity you had nothing short of some respect or another for yourself and for others. We didn't have the speed of connecting so quickly on the world wide web but it's OK...you were able to walk (steps ahead into the mid-late 90's) and make a snack while anticipating the connection at last with your friends online. version 1.0? yikes! but it still was dopeness. Because still we connected somehow 100x better than today, because time wasn't the only precious thing, people connection was. The unity in community is what made things real. We had our issues. They were black and white. Some unfair, but mostly alright. fast forward to today, someone of slightly darker pigment still can't catch a cab after a certain time as fast as their lighter brethren. It's the Human Stain. Still surprised? Ha. A problem of race less class that will forever hold the world at odds with itself. Last science confirmed, we had all of the same internals. Least Divine decree, we were all created equal, of the same mother and father, molded in a variance of clays none better than the other save by the level of faith for which only Allah (swt) knows best. However, we still argue and fight. To each its own. Time back in the day was still dopeness because our unity as a people to stand together for causes we actually believed in overshadowed our differences. In all the decades passed when people fought for something...anything...for GOD SAKE, people had the fight within and stood for something. Love in our generation is a true battlefield. Love of all kinds. From the past to the future, it is movement. We should be moving forward to accomplish great things. I love a quote of something which Elie Wiesel once said, and that is: This is the duty of our generation as we enter the twenty-first century -- solidarity with the weak, the persecuted, the lonely, the sick, and those in despair. It is expressed by the desire to give a noble and humanizing meaning to a community in which all members will define themselves not by their own identity but by that of others. Simplistic and ever more meaningful.

So, with Allah's mercy I've made it to 2009/1430. We have all made it to this point. What footprints of digression from the downfall of those before are we going to commit ourselves to change? Barack Hussein Obama, the first African-American (literally) has been elected the 44th president of the United States of America. That has made for some historical change. To a Year A New. A chance for us all to exhibit our best selves for the sake of our selves and others. May our characters be renewed as we reconstruct our resolutions. It is a hope that we don't just make promises, but instead that we follow through with passionate action. May our relationships of every kind strengthen and renew. May the dopeness of the pass grace us in the fresh future of present time. May we strive harder, reach higher, grow stronger, love longer, and become aspects of what we are ultimately aspiring ii be. To Friends. To Family. To Community. To what was lost, and all that has been found. To remembrance of those before us, and celebration of those in front of us. To Moments yet experienced and reflection of those passed. To life worth enjoying, and lessons worth serving. To the best of good times and the best of worst times. To gratefulness and thankfulness. To everything worth gaining and openness to opportunity of what will essentially be worth losing. To the empowerment of us all. To purified wealth. To joy and laughter, to sympathy and compassion, to empathy. To Trust and Truthfulness. To forgiveness. To Peace and Justice. To change. To a Healthy Us ReNewed another year--a chance to try again. AMEEN! Happy New Year to all and to all a good many nights. Move, Shake...Lets make it a beautiful one. Risk the opportunity to simply BE because we are all something special. Ordinary heroes, in everyday ways.

-a