I am now 25 years old.

Halfway to 50.

I thank God for allowing me to reach this point. He has brought a wealth of opportunity to my life, including the opportunity to be happily married. I sit back and think of everything that has happened over the past year of my life and am very grateful.

I am emotionally drained from watching footage and reading stories from the Gulf Coast over the weekend. It is extremely difficult, actually, for me to watch the footage - I can read the stories on the internet a bit easier. I am angered by President Bush's actions over the past week and disgusted at both the response of our government as well as its failure to act years ago to mitigate the risk involved for New Orleans after an internal FEMA report predicted this disaster 5 years ago. As I've noted in this space before, President Bush is well on his way to a legacy as one of the worst US Presidents of the modern era.

However, I am equally disgusted by the politicizing of Katrina by various individuals and groups with their own agendas. Does everything have to be political these days? It gets tiring. The anger and vitriol in the current political climate needs to go, and the successful 2008 Presidential candidate will likely be the individual best able to de-claw the debates on various issues.

This world of constant flux and viewing everything through political lenses simply can't sustain itself. And yet, its the world in which I find myself at the start of a potential watershed year for my own aspirations in a variety of fields.

Let others complain and groan about the state we're in. I'm in too much of a hurry to whine.

I pray to God to influence my life and help me live a fulfilling life. Thankful to be happily married and in prime position for the first time to seize opportunities I have been given, I move into yet another year of my life with optimism and determination.