Every year at this time, we are looking forward to a new and better year.  We have high hopes that many of the bad things that happened in 2009 won’t be repeated.  Many of us are making New Year’s Resolutions; most of us will break them before the end of January!  Goals include losing weight, saving money, and improving our lives in different, ambitious ways.
Good luck to all of you that reach your targets in 2010!

In bidding a fond farewell to 2009, we can’t help but review many memorable things that it brought us:

• New President, Barack Obama was inaugurated in January.

• “Twitter-Mania” – a social network that allows you to express your views in 140 characters or less.

• The new Yankee Stadium, which replaced The House That Ruth Built in 1923.

• A huge commercial US Airways plane sitting in the Hudson River, with many of its 155 occupants standing on the wings.

• Visions of Jamaican sprinter, Usain “Lightning” Bolt shatter his own world records in 100 and 200-meter sprints at the World Track and Field Championships in Berlin.

• H1N1 Virus – originally called “Swine Flu”, later changed to the medical name in order to absolve pigs of the stigma involved.  This terrible illness started in Mexico in April, and quickly spread throughout the world.  In June, the World Health Organization declared it a Global Pandemic.  Almost 10,000 persons died worldwide due to this virus.

• A shooting at one of our military bases, Ft. Hood, Texas, that resulted in the deaths of 12 soldiers and one civilian, and wounded 30 others.  How could that have happened?

• Scandals: in politics, entertainment, sports world, and the biggest Ponzi scheme in U.S history.

• An historic healthcare debate and vote in Congress – with lots of work still ahead.

Famous persons that passed this year were: Walter Kronkite, Patrick Swayze, Ricardo Montalban, Ted Kennedy, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson.  These are just a few that had an impact on many lives through entertainment, politics, or in the case of Mr. Kronkite, the most trusted news anchor in the U.S. for many years.

It’s hard to believe that nine years have already zipped by in this new century. It’s going to take all our villages to make 2010 a safe, sane year!  Wouldn’t it be great if there were no bad headlines at all?  How about these resolutions: no missing kids or missing persons, no wrong-way or distracted driving auto accidents, no pandemics, no wars, no taking chances or shortcuts, no standing on chairs rather than ladders, no going without P.P.E., (get the idea?) Wouldn’t it be great to live in a perfect world? We don’t, so there will always be challenges.

This year, as always, our concerns are to continue to provide helpful safety ideas involving the workplace, home, and other activities.  In addition to safety issues, we focus on encouraging our readers to keep their bodies healthy by exercise and diet.   Let’s try hard to be careful at work, play, behind the wheel, and anywhere else an accident may be lurking.
GOOD LUCK AND GOOD HEALTH TO ALL IN 2010!