As we race toward the end of the year, the blogosphere and the world begin to take stock of what the year 2005 has meant to all of us.
Time has put together what it calls the best photos of the year. While they are excellent photos, they are "predictably bleak," as The Anchoress writes. It's always difficult to be one of the leaders in putting together a retrospective of any kind. Time deserves credit for getting the ball rolling. But Time did forget some of the best pictures of the year. The Anchoress notes a few omissions:
"No picture of the new pope, the crowds at St. Peter’s proclaiming the old one, no pictures of heroic rescuers at Katrina, no pictures of the flourishing markets in Iraq. Michael Yon’s soldier cradling a baby is, unsurprisingly, absent. No pictures of 200,000 Arabs taking to the streets to call out terrorists. No pictures of jubilant crowds of purple-fingered Iraqis. No picture of President Bush dancing with free Georgians."
The Gateway Pundit has more reminders, in words and pictures, of some of the best moments in 2005 that were missed in Time's "best photos" of the year.
Why does it matter that some of the most encouraging, hopeful moments of 2004 have been missed?
It matters.
Purely from a psychological standpoint, it matters. Martin Seligman, Ph.D., author of Learned Optimism and other groundbreaking works, makes the case that focusing only on the negative is a prescription for depression and paralysis. He suggests teaching optimism to children by, for example, deliberately reviewing each evening a few more things that went right than things that went wrong.
Life will always be a mix of good and bad. The prescription for happiness and success is to acknowledge your losses, but to make sure that you count your many blessings too.
It is true for you and me, and it is true for each nation and for the world. Acknowledge your losses, but always remember and cherish the good.
Or, to put it another way, "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things." (Bible, Phillipians 4:8)
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Update 12/13/05: Vote for the Time 2005 Best Picture of the Week based on weekly voting by the public ("Your Picks"). Michael Yon's picture of an American soldier cradling an Iraqi girl fatally wounded in a car bomb blast is among the 10 final photographs. Here's the link to Michael Yon's site, and here is the link to the Time website. After viewing the 10th picture, click "next" and you'll be taken the the page where you can vote for your favorite.
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