Out with the Old

This office knows of no one personally who can say that the year 2011 was a good year.  Average salaries are down.  People are still unemployed, while folks continued to endure the "Great Recession".  Houses were foreclosed on.  Many Americans lost faith in their government, if they didn't outright overthrow it in various places around the world.  Iran wants to make nukes, while no one else will let them.

If we can arrive at a single descriptive word for 2011, it would be, "bleak".

But, say what we might about the year now almost ended, historically, it was year of endings of eras:

--American troops are finally out of Iraq.  For better or for worse, Operation Iraqi Freedom is over.
--Osama Bin Laden is finally dead.  Or, so the Feds tell us.  We can now declare the "war on terror" over.  Or, no, wait ...
--Libya's Mohamar Khaddafi is dead.  Not that anyone will miss him, but after forty years, forgive us if we assumed it was bound to happen, eventually.
--Joe Paterno resigned as the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions.  For those who don't follow college football, just trust us, this is a massive surprise.  The man was an icon.  Was.
--The Space Shuttle program is no more.  So, no more getting up at all hours to see it launch from Florida or touch down in the California desert.
--Jerry Lewis is no longer the main celebrity benefactor of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and no longer hosts their annual telethon.  For those of us who grew up watching that thing at 3 o'clock in the morning when we couldn't sleep, THAT is the end of an era.
--Steve Jobs is no more.  Last call for gratitude--thanks again, Steve.  I don't know what I'd do without my iPhone.  Or, my desktop, for that matter.
--The Oprah Winfrey Show is no more.  But never fear, Oprah lovers--she now has her OWN network.  (Pardon the pun, Oprah, but we just can't help it when you lay it in our lap).

And so ends the year 2011, as these eras are now safely tucked away into the annals of history.