New Year's Wishes

May the coming year be filled with peace, love, laughter, health, strength, hope and passion, with a little sass sprinkled throughout, just for good measure.

May you live without regret, attain your goals and realize your dreams.

May you surround yourself with people who lift you up and about whom the thing you like the very best is who you are when you are with them.

May you find the courage to be the person you want to be, confidently make the decisions that need making, know who you are when no one is looking, and find opportunities to learn and grow through everyday experiences.

May the light in you shine brightly enough to touch the hearts and lives of those with whom you connect, and may you, in turn, be honored by the light in others.

Dogs

I love dogs. I've learned a great deal from them. They love unconditionally, are ever hopeful and they find the greatest joys in the simplest things. There has only ever been a brief period of time in my life during which there was no canine presence in my house and I realized quickly that, for me, a house needs a dog to feel like a home.

Torturing animals is often a pre-cursor to significant violence against other human beings and ought to be an unforgivable crime. If I told you that your neighbor or co-worker was engaged in acts of utter cruelty towards dogs, how would you react? Would you continue to hold that person in the same esteem as before? If you were an employer and knew that a qualified job applicant tortured animals in his/her free time, would you ever consider hiring that person?

My guess is the answer is no.

Shame on you, Mr. President. You should have kept your nose out of it and just snuggled up with your expensive designer dog.

When the President Calls about the Vick Dogs...