The US Olympic swimming team was just one of the heroic stories of 2004.

February 11, 2005

Putting 2004 in Perspective (A Recap)

We’ve been separated from the trauma and drama of the opening of this century by more than 3 years and we are finally coming to grips with what it all means to us. 2004 could very well come to represent the year we began to reevaluate our lives seriously and take real steps toward correcting a decadent society.

We’ve decided to reasses what’s important to us and take action on it. We’ve watched our government being spat on and demeaned and, in turn, watched it shake the criticism off and maintain stability. We’ve also watched it grow, something that will not continue as most everyone agrees that huge deficits and debt are not healthy.
We’ve watched a paradigm shift in the power of journalistic influence. The internet played an enormous role in everything from the Iraq war to the election. In addition, we watched cable news take the fore from the networks, while the networks, CBS in particular, fell from grace.

In sports, as usual, the heroes outshined the villains in 2004. And we were able to watch as heroes on the Boston Red Sox came from an impossible hole in a baseball series to win and to win the World Series. We’ve watched Peyton Manning accomplish what was unthinkable at the beginning of the season: 49 touchdown passes. The pinnacle of sports came in Athens, as that city and host country put on one of the most successful events in Olympic history in the face of enormous doubt.

We lost a number of heroes in 2004- some to awful diseases, as our beloved President Reagan did, so to a war which has been questioned by many. The heroes that come back from that war, however do not question it, and we’ve been fortunate enough to watch those brave people succeed and watch a President with resolve finish the job so that none of those soldiers died in vain.
As the people of the world continued to work for justice in places like Ukraine and Afghanistan, we watched justice being served.

Although the year began with promising pictures from another planet, 2004 ended in a devastating fashion: with a natural disaster to equal any in history in horror. But with that, we saw a world ready to respond and help the needy. Record amounts of aid were funneled to the countries hurt by the tradgedy and it continues to happen.
In entertainment, we saw the best of heroes fight and win. We watched stories of triumph in the Incredibles, The Passion of The Christ, and Spiderman 2.

What we’ve watched in 2004 will certainly influence what we do in 2005, so let the positive tale of horoes raising to the occassion be the lasting impression. Watch "The World Paradigm, 2004" presentation

-JSB Morse