2008 has been a year beyond anything that we could ever have imagined. It has been one filled with a mixture of emotions ranging from insecurity to anger, fear and finally to those of hope. We have seen the ugliness of terrorism spread to the citizens of Mumbai, India and the fear that they might be the next target spread to others globally. We have seen greed from Wall Street,  beginning with the mortgage crisis and ending in the Ponzi scheme masterminded by Madoff, result in an economic spiral downwards not only for those in the United States but for the entire world. In 2008 we have learned that while we would prefer to think of each country as its own territory and the fate of those within its borders governed solely by that country’s government  it is not so. Rather, our fates are inevitably interwoven and interconnected: if one country suffers then its neighbors, however far away, will also suffer.

This week, as we saw Israel respond to Hamas’ relentless shooting of missiles into Israeli borders (which has caused the death of innocent Israeli children) by bombing, among others, innocent Palestinian children, we thought: when will it ever end? Last week, as we saw Pakistan and India amass troops at their borders, we again thought: when will it ever end?

Within our own country we have witnessed raids of each and every immigrant community, causing families to be torn apart with no hope for reconciliation and again we thought: when will it ever end? We have also seen a decrease in immigration to the U.S. because America’s streets no longer seen to be paved with gold and wondered: when will America again become the land of golden opportunities? However, against this backdrop, we have also seen the rebirth of hope by the election of Barak Obama, America’s first “black” (at least 50%) president. His election has filled us with wonder and hope for we now can truly believe that everyone, including the children of immigrants, can someday grow up to be President of the U.S. and assume a place on the stage of world leadership. With President- elect Obama’s statements that he intends to create government jobs to rebuild our infrastructures also comes the hope that there will be immigration reform in 2009 for who will be the engineers, architects and construction workers to assist us in such job growth without immigration reform?

Thus, as the year ends, its ends on a message of hope and of expectation. May this coming year be a good one for America and for all the families who dwell within its borders.