Jan 3, 2009...
May you get a clean bill of health from your dentist, your cardiologist, your gastroenterologist, your urologist, your proctologist, your podiatrist, your psychiatrist, your plumber, your mechanic, and the IRS.

May your hair, your teeth, your face-lift, your abs, and your stocks not fall.

May your blood pressure, your triglycerides, your cholesterol, your white blood count, and your mortgage interest not rise.

May New Years Eve find you seated around the table together with your beloved family and cherished friends. May you find the food better, the environment quieter, the cost much cheaper, and the pleasure much more fulfilling than anything else you might ordinarily do that night.

May what you see in the mirror delight you and what others see in you delight them. May someone love you enough to forgive your faults, be blind to your blemishes, and tell the world about your virtues.

May the telemarketers wait to make their sales calls, may the commercials on TV not be louder than the program you have been watching and may your checkbook and budget balance with plenty of room for charity.

May you remember to say “I love you” at least once a day to your spouse, your child, your parents, your siblings; but not to your secretary, your nurse, your hairdresser, or your tennis instructor.

And may we live in a world at peace and with the awareness of God’s love in every sunset, every flower’s unfolding petals, every baby’s smile, every lover’s kiss, and every wonderful miraculous beat of your heart.

Nathanael Greene, a general in the American army who served under George Washington, when asked why he went to war, wrote "We are soldiers who devote ourselves to arms not for the invasion of other countries but for the defense of our own, not for the gratification of our own private interests, but for public security".

Can the generals of today say the same?