The Circle Begins Again

by Terry Ballantyne

It has been quite a year. In some ways it feels like the guardrails were removed and we’ve been careening through these last months turning corners on two wheels! As we close out 2018 we all have a lot on our minds.

Global weirding is all around us: cluttered oceans, climate change, political strife, mass migrations, racial tensions, opioid addiction, homelessness. It’s grim stuff for the holidays.

What’s most interesting though, is that somehow, in the face of everything the news hurls at us hourly, the overwhelming majority of people still remain hopeful. Acts of love and kindness continue to rise to the occasion and outshine fear and doubt.

As Realtors, we see it in newlyweds buying homes, young families having children, grandparents relocating to be near and lend a hand. Everyday we see people moving forward in their lives. And maybe you too have noticed that in Santa Cruz, people are especially nice in common spaces. Patient with each other. Friendly with strangers. Almost as if to resist the news by demonstrating the power of the personal.

Whatever the future holds for humanity, we are only here NOW. Enjoying the sun on our faces now.  Holding round little hands in ours now. Caretakers of our community now. Custodians of this beautiful earth now. All simple pleasures that may not always be possible, who knows?

So right now, our mission is to embrace what we have, care for what we love and bind our community with fairness and decency. Behaving as if each of us is responsible for the outcome of humanity. In the coming year let’s resolve to be better at listening, to be less sure we are right, to be open to new things and ideas. Let us resolve to be responsible for the little patch of paradise called Santa Cruz that we all share. Keep our end of the bargain. Model courtesy.

Can we let all the things we agree on be the start of a new conversation?  Can we agree to see the good?  Can we agree to think in new ways? If each of us makes a 10% shift upward in our effort to make the right choices, the impact can and will be amazing.
-T Ballantyne Brezsny

Wishing everyone a happy and transformative 2019,

Terry