Voices from the past

Roxanne Jaugerai calls her murdered friend's voicemail just to hear her recorded voice again. In the year 2008, soon to expire into history, I also lost a beloved friend, although to cancer, not to gunfire.

I still have my friend's last voicemail to me, a completely ordinary message about meeting for coffee or lunch. I keep extending its lifetime in Verizon's computer, as if I could still extend her lost lifetime. At least I still have her voice to echo in my ears.

As does every year, 2008 had good times and bad. My dream is that 2009 will be better, but I know that it will nonetheless mix good and bad. I just hope for more good and less bad.

New Years is a time to consider, assess, and reconsider. The world is far from perfect. Each of us is far from perfect. How can we make improvements? What can we make better?