It's New Year's. I flipped on CNN last night, and found (as usual) thousands of people already standing in 36 degree drizzling rain, waiting for the big moment. On the surface, it sounds nuts. But you know what? Before I require a walker to get around, I told my wife I might like to be there, in Times Square on New Years Eve, right in the thick of humanity. Maybe, someday.
I have always wondered about our cultural fascination with New Years. And every year that I can remember, the press spends the last several days of the year reviewing what are considered to be the newsworthy events of the prior year. Not to be left behind, Christian news folks have their own top ten lists; see this and this.
For all 13 of you who routinely visit here, I give you the Steve Norris Top 10 List of Newsworthy Events of 2005.
- 1. The Death of John Paul (the Great). And I am not even Catholic.
- The ongoing suffering in Darfor, Sudan, and our need to respond.
- The elevation of Cardinal Ratzinger to Benedict XVI. Good news for orthodoxy in the Catholic church.
- The tragic events of the tsunami in Southeast Asia, and our need, nay, call, to give.
- The Pakistani earthquake, and again, our need, as blessed people, to give.
- Good that is being done by US Troops in Iraq, and our need to pray for resolution of this pain, democracy for this country, and a return of our troops home.
- A review of the year in pictures, a reminder of the real world outside.
- The ongoing needs of the people of New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina. Want to help? Go here.
- The death of Terry Schiavo.
- And, of course, this.
