An ominous start to 2025: a car drives into crowded Bourbon Street in the middle of the night on New Year\u2019s Eve in New Orleans. Ten killed, more than thirty injured, and the driver jumped out to exchange gun fire with police (two officers hit). Maybe there\u2019s bombs as well, maybe not. Maybe the driver\/shooter is dead by his own hand, or by the police, maybe not. But the FBI says he\u2019s dead, and it\u2019s only 8 am. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bourbon Street \u2013 an iconic location in American \u201clore\u201d. Walking with the crowd on Bourbon Street on New Year\u2019s Eve, or better yet, Mardi Gras, is on the lifetime \u201cbucket list\u201d for many. I\u2019ve been there a couple of times, but only with high school teams along. Bourbon Street is about music, and parties, and \u201cshow me your — beads\u201d. Walking there in the daytime doesn\u2019t really give the true \u201cfeel\u201d. As one of my athletes found out when he stepped in the door of a \u201cnude dancers\u201d club at one in the afternoon; \u201cWhen it\u2019s family night we\u2019ll let you know!!!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bourbon Street never really has a family night. But, like New Year\u2019s Eve in Times Square, or Key West, or on the Vegas Strip; it\u2019s where Americans go to party the New Year in. Now, they\u2019re blowing up suspected \u201cbombs\u201d on the streets. Maybe they\u2019re really bombs, maybe they\u2019re packages left behind in the panic of the moment. Better safe than sorry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a reminder that we live in a dangerous world. What we used to worry about was planned terrorist attacks by Black September or Al Qaeda or Isis. That\u2019s changed. It\u2019s not organized anymore. It\u2019s a crazed \u201clone wolf\u201d, who may be radicalized on the internet, or may just be nuts, or both. We\u2019ve all got cars, a weapon of choice. And, since it\u2019s the United States of America, many of us, including those who have lost their minds, have guns as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So what should be the \u201cmindset\u201d for 2025? Should we go back to the weeks after 9\/11, when Americans avoided malls, stadiums, crowds and celebrations? They were all \u201csoft targets\u201d. And it took a while before we went back to those events, and stopped looking up at each jet in the sky as a weapon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a theory of avoidance: stay \u201csmall\u201d. Don\u2019t put yourself in a position when you could be at risk. Stay away from all of the events, national ones like New Year\u2019s Eve on Bourbon Street, or local ones like the village festival. But this violence can happen anywhere. It happened at a local school, a private Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin. Or at a place of worship, like the one in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Or at local grocery stores, like the Tops Friendly in Buffalo, New York, or the King Soopers in Boulder, Colorado. How \u201csmall\u201d are you willing to be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is an Islamic word, Kismet. It is a word for fate, for the pure random chance that put those folks in the path of a vehicle in the wee hours of New Year\u2019s Day on Bourbon Street. We can take precautions: Times Square is ringed with barriers and trash trucks to prevent exactly such an attack. They don\u2019t even allow port-a-potties, a place where a bomb could be assembled and detonated. (The great mystery of New Year\u2019s Eve on Times Square – where do those people go to go?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Surely Bourbon Street will be closed to vehicle traffic next year, concrete barriers and, maybe New Orleans trash trucks as well. But in the end, you can choose to live life, or you can choose to live \u201csmall\u201d, avoiding the unavoidable, try to hide from Kismet. But, no matter what your religious beliefs (or lack thereof), in the end there\u2019s no avoiding that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So here\u2019s a New Year\u2019s Resolution:\u00a0\u00a0Live Life.\u00a0\u00a02025 is a new year, one that you will never experience again.\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t let fear stop you from experiencing everything that 2025 has to offer.\u00a0\u00a0You don\u2019t have to be reckless, but you don\u2019t have to be \u201csmall\u201d either.\u00a0\u00a0Living is more than existing, it\u2019s experiencing the world.\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s an Chinese expression;\u00a0“Better to be a dog in times of tranquility than a human in times of chaos.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As one with some experience with dogs, I can tell you that even in our times of chaos, they can be tranquil. And in tranquil times, they can create chaos.\u00a0\u00a0We can\u2019t control our world and our current times (the election of 2024 certainly proves that), but we can still strive to make it better, even with danger of other’s lunacy.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Kismet will find us when it does.\u00a0\u00a0In the meantime, we can live, and experience, and find joy wherever we can. So live a Happy New Year!!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"