2020 Vision for 2012

FRENCHKISSED update: This image is no longer available for download, but you can find it for sale in my Etsy and Zibbet shops!

Bonne annee! The first free download for 2012 is an Art Deco image I call "Gloria with Glasses." The name of the printing company that published this French postcard was Gloria, so I thought that was a fitting name for my little cutie.
Now while I'm wishing you a Happy New Year (Bonne Annee), you'll note that this card was sent with a Bonne Fete sticker added. Bonne Fete is when a person celebrates their "name day" -- based on the Catholic calender, the feast day of the saint they are named after. On the back of this card is a message "pour votre fete ... Viva la St. Louise." I was quite surprised to learn that St. Louise, who died March 15, 1660, was the co-founder with St. Vincent de Paul of the Daughters of Charity, dedicated to helping the poor!

Now, I will admit that I slept right through the new year. I didn't even have a glass of bubbly. I haven't stayed up for a midnight toast since 2000. But that doesn't mean that I'm not excited about what the future holds because I am.

In fact, just yesterday I discovered a "new" author who's been around a long time: William Gibson. His claim to fame is coining the word "cyberspace." I'm eager to check out some of his science fiction books from the library. A quote of his that touches me is “The future has already arrived. It's just not evenly distributed yet.”
As I read about the middle class growing in places like South Africa and China, I take heart in knowing that the distribution of life's necessities is improving. It is disturbing that the middle class in the US is shrinking and those in poverty and those just a couple of paychecks away from poverty are on the increase. But that subject is for another day:)

What has also given my heart hope is a video I saw online today: a breath-taking photo collage about a little boy named Cole who has spent his first year of life traveling AROUND THE WORLD!* As I watched this video, the thought that kept going through my mind was: we need a few million more like this little boy! In fact, we need an entire generation of youth who are raised to look at the world -- with or without glasses -- as it really is: one big ball of humanity.

All over the world we are feeling the heat from global warming. We are feeling the pinch from the global economy. Disney was right: it's a small world after all. It isn't just Republicans or Tories or Socialists who are affected. It's not just Americans or Japanese. It's the whole world!

Nothing like helping us to see the future better than looking back at the past. During the weekend I went to see "War Horse" and I can't rave about it enough. It is the story of a thoroughbred horse raised by an English boy, sold to the  army as England enters World War I, then passed into the hands of a French farmer before being taken by the Germans to pull massive cannons. Gripping scenes that you won't forget and superb cinematography are combined with this "horse story" to get across Steven Spielberg's message that there is no glory in war, there is nothing to be proud about killing someone else and everyone pays a price -- because we are all in this together.

This globe is all we've got. We really need to have global vision if we're going to create a future worth being in.
*Click on this link for a world tour with Cole:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUD4qn0NFS4