525,600 minutes…
As that profound lyric from the musical Rent song, “Seasons of Love” asks, how do you measure a year? 
“In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights
In cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.”
As we stand at the exit ramp of 2011, preparing to merge into 2012, what do we see?
In the rear-view mirror, most Americans will be glad that 2011 is ending.
It was a year of collective strife and angst, a year in which our country’s stature and quality of life continued to lose ground. 
We are not the indominable world leader we were just a few years ago. 
There were, of course, some highlights, wonderful moments and major accomplishments for the United States and for the world. Every year has them. If I think of any, I’ll be sure to include them. So far I’m drawing a blank.
Personally, we’ve all had our ups and downs in 2011. 
When I look back at the last 525,600 minutes, a few things bring warm thoughts and fuzzy feelings.
First and foremost in my life is becoming a grandfather. Dana and Matt broke the news to us last spring at lunch at the Grape Leaf restaurant after church. Janet yelled at the top of her lungs, “Are you kidding me?”
Graham was born Nov. 16 with a full mop of hair and the most alert and inquisitive eyes I’ve ever seen on a baby. And that was at age 2 minutes. I think he is going to want to know everything that’s going on around him 24/7 — just like his Mom.
Being a grandparent changes you in ways that you don’t expect and didn’t imagine, and it’s all good.
I won’t go on about grandparenthood now but will save that for a future essay. Meanwhile, back to 2011.
Another highlight was my trip to Guatemala in June, joining a group from St.John’s Jesuit High School and led by Father Don Vettese of International Samaritan.
Whenever I think I’ve got it rough, all I’ve got to do is remember the people of Zone 3 in Guatemala, the city’s notorious garbage dump community. The people work 11 hours a day sorting through the trash in the garbage dump, looking for recyclables or anything worth saving. 
It’s a meager way of life and there would be virtually no way out were it not for Fr. Vettese’s outreaches, building a well-reasoned and strategic plan to provide safety, security and an education for long-term success.
Two other trips were memorable this year, one to California in May to visit Janet’s brother Ed and his wife Laurie in Orange County, the other to Florida in March where we visited with my family, especially Rick and Vicki.
My sister Elaine and her husband Ken and two of their three boys came to Ohio for a visit and it was wonderful to see them.
For me, one of the saddest things about 2011 was the continued decline of the newspaper industry in general and the paper I work at in particular.
Sometimes you are too caught up in the daily grind to step back and take in the mega-trends, but you’d have to be blind not to see how newspapers are going the way of the town crier, vinyl records and morse code. 
Technology and economics are reframing the picture of how we get our news and information. 
Here I am writing on an iPad, a device that personifies the change in media. I had expected and predicted that a handheld, portable, user-friendly device would someday be invented that would hasten the demise of printed news. I believe the iPad is the tipping point toward that transition.
People don’t realize the impact, they just like the device. And that’s fine. You can’t hold back the future by trying to lay a guilt trip on people. They either want to buy newspapers or they don’t. 
More and more often, people are getting their news online. They think nothing of it. It’s free and it’s increasingly easy, so who can blame them? The newspaper industry dug its own grave by offering its products online for free, never thinking that this little diversion called the internet would someday be the dominant force in media.
This is all very simple and yet profound. The big question is, what are we going to do about it?
As much as I’d like to see the big media corporations adapt smartly and gracefully, I’m afraid they are going to stumble and lumber along until they either fall in line or fade away as the 21st century media model evolves.
Meanwhile, people who have made their living providing information to readers are caught in the upheaval. There have been layoffs, pay cuts, losses of benefits, increased workloads, and lack of respect from preoccupied “decisionmakers” who are staring at the next shaky  floor tile they will step on instead of looking up and looking at the world around them.
One thing for sure on a personal note, I am going to do my best to be the best grandparent I can be in 2012 and beyond.
I also plan to continue my ongoing quest of self-improvement by reading 50 books a year, a goal I set and accomplished in 2010, and repeated in 2011.
I’ve already started with a one-year Bible reading plan to read through the Bible in 2012. This will be the fourth time doing that with a scheduled daily reading; I didn’t do it in 2011 and I miss it.
Today, before the parties start, I will finish writing my first screenplay, which I plan to submit in an online contest — predictably, I’ll be just beating the deadline. Another goal for 2012 is to finish my first novel within the next few months. I might have been able to do that if I hadn’t diverted my attention to the screenplay.
However you look ahead, 2012 appears to be a year of more changes, either by choice or by consequence. A lot of decisions will need to be made, and I am anticipating it will be a year of new vision and dramatic change.
Whatever your situation or calling in life, I wish you and yours all the best in the new year. May you make the most of the upcoming 525,600 minutes.