A Billion Reasons for Hope.....

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! It's the year of the Rat and that means that it's time to think forward again. The great thing about living in a multicultural world is you can keep remaking your new years resolutions, because it's some culture's new year somewhere!

China has been suffering quite a bit in preparations for Chinese New Year due to weather and other system breakdowns. To the uninitiated, Chinese New Year is the Family Holiday. Itis akin to Thanksgiving in the U.S., where people all go home to celebrate. It's a time of celebration and gratitude and hope! The freezing weather has stranded many in their effort to get home.

2008 as most know is a huge year for China, where it will showcase to the world it's progress with the Beijing Olympics. Big celebrations are efforts to show your best, and show your potential. And once you know your potential you want to follow through every day. Like the old adage goes, if I hadn't seen such riches I could live with being poor. On the flip side, you don't value what you don't have until you don't have it. And I think there is a natural progression that occurs with industrialization. The British and the Americans went through the industrial revolution and we've improved. Sure we go backwards every so often, but hey Whole Foods is banning plastic bags.

So this brings us back to China, the hard times that have happened will make people ask at what cost. What are we trading away. I think that this will lead to more change on the positive side, since the sense that we can get rid of things over there disappear when there is here. China may be hitting that moment. People everywhere want better lives for their children, and that is hope enough.

Enjoy the new year, spend those red envelopes well and ecologically.