"It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times"

I lost it in the toilet paper aisle at the grocery store this morning. I was minding my own business, looking for a 6 pack of double rolls, and singing along quietly to Annie Lennox' "Why?", which was being played on the store's sound system. I'd just passed a black woman who looked to be about the same age as me, and who was also singing along with the song. Though she appeared to be somewhat dissheveled and probably poor, she held her head up as she sang.

As the song came to an end, I was struck by the closing lines...
"These are the contents of my head
And these are the years that we have spent
And this is what they represent
And this is how I feel
Do you know how I feel ?
'cause i don't think you know how I feel
I don't think you know what I feel
I don't think you know what I feel
You don't know what I feel"
And I began to sob. The words I spoke through my tears were directed at America. I said "Look at what you've done to me America!"
I thought about the direction my country is trying to take with the Occupy Movement. People finally standing up and shouting "Enough is enough!" I thought about the other direction, of Corporate greed, a corrupt Supreme Court, and a government intent on causing suffering for the majority of its' people.

This has been a VERY powerful year for myself, and many others. I don't expect anything less from 2012. It's truly been, and will continue to be, exactly what Charles Dickens and Annie Lennox wrote about.