Life sucks on this plane of existence. It’s not as if you can’t find glimmers of grace and mercy, but this world is damaged goods and will not be redeemed. English translations of Scripture routinely confuse things by the ambiguity of “world” when it means either people, the planet, this plane of existence, the current age before The End, etc.
I’m not impressed by the current arbitrary marking of when one year ends and the next begins. For human existence, it makes more sense to begin the new year at some point in our experiential cycle of weather and seasons. I don’t celebrate New Years Eve/Day as most others around me do. I went to bed at the same time as usual, having consumed one glass of wine at dinner. I got up early, though just a bit later than usual for me — 5:45 AM.
Overnight some juvenile punk had celebrated by vandalizing a bunch of vehicles in our isolated community. He went along with a container of cheap table mustard and black marker scrawling obscenities on cars and trucks. Some was random, but we are quite certain it was targeting in our case. We got more mustard than anyone. My wife went around the neighborhood taking pictures for folks and someone has called the local law enforcement.
Of course, local community management is unresponsive. None of the staff lives here so they aren’t bothered by such things. After cleaning off my own vehicle — the permanent marker yielded to hand cleaner solvent — I spotted some shattered glass in the street near the main entrance, so I grabbed a broom and swept it off to the side. A survey indicates almost a dozen vehicles marked and/or splattered. Dozens of full trash carts were dumped and the contents scattered. The spillage had shoe prints it, not animal tracks.
Most of us suspect a particular little thug who has done some horrendous stuff lately, but management can’t be bothered to kick the family out as had been the policy at one time in the past. This kid has seriously injured other kids in full view of adults and has been implicated in other forms of vandalism in the past. He’s pretty defiant about it all, showing no sign of remorse. The mother was home one day when the police came to talk to her about her son, but she hid in the house and refused to answer the door.
Yeah, Happy New Year.
