Special NEW YEAR'S Message from...

... Dude's NUGGET FOR TODAY.

THE YEAR 2009…

All said, the year finally comes to an end. And although things may not have been perfect, there is a lot to be thankful for. If we insist that we have absolutely nothing at all, then the privilege to be alive (and reading this nugget) is a winner anytime.

Your brother isn’t in some foreign government’s custody for an attempted act of terrorism. Your mother isn’t the first lady of your country, and she surely isn’t dying from cancer. You may not be president, and thankfully so. Who knows if you would be lying ill in some Arabian hospital wailing in pains from a strange illness? Your bank account doesn’t end the year with the much desired figures you had anticipated, but hey, you’re not being kidnapped just because rumor went out on how rich you accountant says you are. So maybe you had a few ups and downs during the year: he refused to propose marriage but instead ran away like the chicken you always said he was; or maybe she left you heartbroken and said the marriage “simply wasn’t working”; or perhaps you got fired from the job and still haven’t found another. Our nugget sympathizes. But if we’d only stop for a moment, listen to the news or the rumors making the rounds about others, and actually put ourselves in their shoes we’ll realize that 2009 hasn’t nearly been half-bad. Maybe not great, but then if the year was all we hoped it would be, we’d have nothing to look forward to in 2010. A heart of gratitude and steadfast optimism is the perfect formula with which to end this year’s equation.

So our nugget is thankful for a lot: Your readership and occasional comments, your criticisms and the kindness of spreading an interesting article to others to read. Today, our nugget says “THANK YOU”. Thank you for an opportunity to make you spend a moment or two in thought, and for the conversations there from. In the same vein, we must find a way to be thankful for everything we’ve encountered during the year gone past, the bad and not pleasant ones inclusive. And then later today, when we herald a new year 2010, we must raise our hats and click our glasses to the birth of a future filled with promise.

Regards,
Dude 'O'

p.s: Wishing you a most memorable year 2010. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Thanks Dude 'O' / Resident nice guy... And a happy New Year to you too! 'Here's hoping 2010 brings forth Scandals upon Scandalous Splits! Get it? It's an 'S' thing...