“The Fine Print”, by Michael Schrader
THOUGHTS FOR A NEW YEAR
(Written 01 July 1998. Published in the Neighborhood Journal. Posted 06 July 2009.)
Yesterday was an important day for me. It's the beginning of a new year, at least,
for me anyway.
Yes I know that technically, the new year
started six months ago. Or did it? It all depends on what kind of year you are
marking. Years do not necessarily have to be recorded by the "Year of our
Lord." For example
, if you look at university diplomas, the year is not only stated in
calendar years, but years of the university's existence.
This newspaper is another example. The volume number shown is the year number of
this newspaper's existence. Sometime
this month, you will notice that the newspaper will begin a new year as the
volume number will change.
There are two big events with which I mark time and
years. The first, of course, is my
birthday. As of April, I entered my
thirty-third year of life on planet Earth.
The second is my wedding anniversary.
The fact that I am even married is proof, to me, that God
exists. I had just about given up all
hope of ever finding a mate and had resigned myself to the fact that I would be
forever single when, waalaa, I met Mrs.
Schrader. And the rest, as they say, is
history.
As I enter into another year of husbandhood
and fatherhood, I like to look back into the year gone past to see where I've
been before I venture out into the uncharted territory of the year to be. As with any year, the year past has been
filled with both heartaches and joys. In
the past year, I experienced the humiliation of losing a job as a result of
political chicanery, and the stress of the resulting financial insecurity. However, as the year has drawn to a close,
all of my problems were overshadowed by the birth of my fourth child. I may be a old hat
at this Dad-hood thing, having been through it thrice already, but the birth of
a beautiful child is still to me the most joyous event a person can participate
in, even the fourth time around. You
must know that to me, at least, a child is a gift from God. I now have four such gifts.
Today, as I start my new year, I also start a new
endeavor. While I have a little
trepidation, I am also very excited.
And, in the spirit of decency, and because you, the reader, have been my
confidant these past two years, I feel that you should hear it from me first
before you hear it from anyone else.
In honor of the new year, I have
decided to formally announce my candidacy for the mayor of
Why would anyone want to be mayor of
I grew up being told that the government was your
friend. The government, I was told, was
there to protect the common good.
Without the government, I was taught, we would lose our liberty. Nowadays, however, the government that is
supposed to be protecting our liberties is usurping our liberties. We have politicians on power trips who are
only concerned about their legacy. We
have staff who treat citizens like lepers in pursuit
of their own personal agendas. Unless we
restore the people's confidence in our political and government officials, we
are doomed to continue our slide into anarchy and destruction. Time is running out. (Remember the
As a columnist, week after week I comment about the way
things are. Some of these comments are
good, some are not so good. It's one
thing to lob stones over the wall. It's
quite another to try and tear down that wall.
As an American citizen, I believe that it is our duty to try, whenever
we can, to tear down those walls. So,
instead of sitting here in the privacy of my computer just commenting on
things, I will be sticking my neck on the line to try and change them.
My running for mayor in
It's shaping up to be an interesting year.
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