{"Body Text Edit"/}"Don't look back," advised the great baseball pitcher Satchel Paige. "Something might be gaining on you."
We ignore that sage counsel about this time every year because there is something irresistible about taking stock of our lives every Dec. 31.
So, what kind of year has it been around here? The answer isn't as simple as we might expect.
In looking back over our top local stories of 2009 _ as enumerated beginning on Page 1 of today's newspaper _ we see a common denominator in at least the first four.
The natural gas controversy, Oneonta Police Department scandal, NYRI's apparent surrender and the area economy all caused the same reaction.
Anger.
As citizens, we were a pretty angry bunch, and we weren't afraid to show it.
Nowhere is that anger more widespread than in the debate over drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus shale.
Opponents are angry because they are rightfully worried about what the chemicals used in the drilling process might do to their drinking water.
Proponents are angry because they feel they have the right to profit and do what they want with their own land, and besides, the nation needs the relatively clean energy that natural gas may provide.
We expect both sides to remain angry well into 2010 and beyond.
The Oneonta police obscenity made local residents plenty angry _ almost as angry as all the good cops who were tarred with the same seamy brush when it was discovered that three policemen may have had sex with teenagers on city property while on duty.
The only thing that would make folks angrier would be for the city not to bring in an outside agency to investigate and evaluate _ not just possible criminal activity _ but the training, staffing and otehr aspects of Oneonta's police operation.
When New York Regional Interconnect Inc. plotted to build a massive and unnecessary electrical transmission line from Marcy in Oneida County to New Windsor in Orange County, the people and state politicians rose to thwart NYRI's scheme.
That was one instance when anger was well-directed and effective.
Lastly, like most of the rest of the country, we're angry about the economy. We're angry about unemployment, angry about everything being too expensive, angry about how things don't appear to be getting much better any time soon.
While it is hard, amid all this anger, to be optimistic about the coming new year, we should consider postponing our anger and following more of Satchel Paige's wise advice.
"Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching."
