1 January. New calendar.There is something about tossing out an old calendar. It is more than mere symbolism. It is a kinetic act showing that time really has passed -- and it will never be here again.
That is the philosophical side of time. But time passing can have relational aspects, as well.
One of the first blogs I discovered in my quest to determine if Mexico should be my next home was "Eddie Willer's" Adventures Of A Third World Shopkeeper. Most blogs about Mexico are uniformly upbeat and sunny -- describing Mexico in the same glowing terms that a friend describes his spinster sister. You know there must be something else going on, but the family simply does not talk about it.
"Eddie" talked about it. He left Britain because its political system was sapping his individual creativity. He turned that same jeweler's eye of libertarianism on Mexico.
I did not always agree with his observations, but they were always interesting. Case in point: Privatization of buses in his hometown of Tampico resulted in scheduling chaos. Even as the champion of the free market, he suggested that regulation may be better than the ensuing anarchy.
His blog announced: "Eddie now lives as a peaceable merchant with his wife and baby daughter. After all, life as a third-world shopkeeper has to be better than as a first-world wage slave."
Unfortunately, for those of us who were his fans, "Eddie" decided that being a third-world shopkeeper was not the uplifting opportunity it originally promised. He has posted his last post, and will be moving to Canada with his family at the end of January.
I, for one, will miss his pithy observations -- all based on a slightly eccentric view of human kind.
The fact that "Eddie Willers" now chooses an alternate course is not a surprise. At the end of Atlas Shrugged, Eddie's fate is not disclosed -- he is merely stranded in the desert. But, there is hope. From the pen of Herself, we learn: "He is much too able and too honest ever to adjust himself to collectivism."
If his chosen pseudonym even has an iota of accuracy, Canada will prove to be an adventure, but not the ultimate home for our "Eddie."
As he heads north, and I head south, I wish each of you a very happy and blessed new year.
