New (to us) concepts like global warming, wife-swapping, bi-partisanship, mission accomplished and hybrid engines emerged as commonplace lingo. An African-American became president. A daily tablet to cure male-pattern baldness was available.  TVs became larger, flatter and more capable of revealing bad skin.

We were told to fear China, not Russia, and perhaps irreversibly, we now react with suspicion and fear toward anyone whose last name begins El. The city of New Orleans was nearly wiped off the face of the earth and the stock market crashed 1929 style. Michael Jackson was accused of bedding little boys (again) and then died. Never before had facts been so ignored, had wedge issues been so exploited in order to polarize us.

In certain circles, it became blasphemy to suggest that life in the United States had been anything short of Utopia. The people who believed that patriotism meant never having to say you’re sorry were given platforms to air their grievances on 24-hour cable “news” channels. We were advised that foreign-policy experience derives from “seeing” Russia from an island in Alaska.

Pretty much nothing good happened. That is, unless you were a fan of some guy named “Dubya.” Or you invested in Apple stock in 2002 and sold all your real estate before 2007. Or your name happened to be Levi and you didn’t believe in condoms.

There are so many things keeping us up at night, it can be difficult to find reasons for optimism. Unemployment remains at near records levels. Finding something to eat in the grocery store without fear of where it’s coming from or what’s in it can be vexing. Climate change makes it impossible to decide in the morning between your bathing suit or gore-tex parka.

Our politicians are inexorably and completely controlled by the motivation to be reelected. Debt has a stranglehold over our pocketbooks and psyches. Our brave soldiers find themselves spread too thinly, and in harm’s way around the globe.

That said, aren’t we as Americans, we as a people that represent the best and brightest on the planet… aren’t we capable of more? Can we not envision a Detroit that produces the most technologically advanced and reliable automobiles on the market? Are our farmers incapable of dethroning big agro-business and satisfying the demand for healthy, fresh and local food? Will our politicians ever make responsible decisions based on reason, intellect, accountability and independent thought?

Less argument. More cooperation.

Less finger-pointing. More problem-solving.

Less planetary indifference. More environmental awareness.

One way or another, a reckoning for humanity is coming, and it’s coming soon. We are a resourceful and brilliant species, capable of so much, yet immeasurably restricted by the bounds of our selfish and short-sighted behavior. Here’s hoping that 2010 begins to see a shift in the dynamic.