Another Caravan, 2018 Lookback and Goal Setting!

20 countries, a lot of news, and a lot of sitting on airplanes.  We’ll say goodbye to 2018 today on the Hot Zone.

 

It’s the last day of 2018.  Episode sixteen of my new show, and I’m so grateful for you.  Your support has been amazing, and we may soon have some great news about the show for 2019.  But  Today we’ll look back at some highlights of the past year.  

 

A couple of short items I wanted to talk about first.  According to newsweek a new migrant caravan of over 15000 Hondurans, Guatemalans and El Salvadorians is making its way north into Mexico.  According to the report, the group is not planning to go all the way to Tijuana, where there are still thousands of migrants languishing in camps as they wait for an asylum hearing.  At least two of those migrants have been murdered in Tijuana, but you aren't hearing much about them anymore in the press because they've already served their purpose, which was to try and embarrass the Trump administration.  The only ones you are hearing about are those the media can make political hay out of, such as the two children who have died in Border patrol custody after being dragged across Mexico by their parents, who planned to use the children to help them enter the United States more quickly.  

 

This new caravan apparently plans to cross into mexico and stay in Chiapas state and look for work.  The new Mexican President, (they call him AMLO, which stands for Andrés Manuel López Obrador) has called for the construction of a high speed rail network to connect some of Mexico's biggest tourist destinations.  I guess this mass of humanity from Honduras thinks they'll all get jobs working on the railroad.  We'll see how that goes over with the unemployed mexican laborers in that area.

 

In related news, four German nationals were assaulted on 27 December by a group of armed men in Puebla Mexico. The victims were driving when the assailants robbed them; the attackers reportedly had placed nails and stones along the motorway, causing the commuters to stop their vehicle to investigate.

 

There are a few rules I always try to follow when driving in a foreign country:  I try to be inconspicuous.  I try not to drive at night if I can help it.  And I have no problem ignoring people who try to get me to stop for any reason.  Whether it's a car broken down by the side of the road or a pretty girl hitchhiking, or even a place where traffic is backed up, I'd rather be moving, even if it means taking the long way around.  It's not always possible, but keep in mind thieves will often prey on your nice, polite American manners to take advantage of you.

 

Another tragedy in Mexico:  an 84-year-old swiss tourist was also killed in Acapulco last week - stabbed to death by unknown assailants in a robbery.  His wife was also injured in the attack.  

 

If the Mexican government is unable to get a handle on  the violence that has become such a blight on that beautiful country, AMLO probably should put his resources into law enforcement, rather than building a railroad for tourists.  That's just my opinion.  In reality, Mexico is either at war with the cartels, or controlled by them.  Sometimes it's hard to tell which.

 

Now here's a little look back on my 2018 - I meant to get to this yesterday but ran out of time. When I went back and started collecting this footage I was amazed at how many places I actually get to in a year, and as my job goes, 2018 wasn't even all that remarkable.  This year I visited about twenty countries and flew only a little over 100,000 air miles.  That's partially because I spent more time reporting IN the United States this year, on stories such as the violence in Baltimore and Chicago, the Austin Bomber, and the various marches and protests we saw across our very divided culture.  Personally, I'd rather report from a battlefield than attend another one of these protest marches.  They are really getting tedious.  Anyway, here's 2018 in two minutes:

 

Looks really exciting when you put it together that way, but what that didn't show you was all the overnight airplane rides stuck in backpacker class next to an obese mouthbreather with a screaming baby.  Happens more often than I'd care to recall.  

 

Now before we go I want to share with you my choice for the most amazing interview I did this year.  That's a tough choice too, because I get to meet so many amazing people every year, but this one really stands out.  He's Marine Sergeant John Peck, an American Hero.

 

[John peck interview 7 min]

 

Looking back is fun, but looking forward is even better.  What’s your habit when it comes to goal setting for the new year?  Well I’ll share mine real quickly - I write out seven important facets of my life:  Spiritual, Relational, Physical, Financial, Academic, Business and Social, then sort of rate how I feel I did this year in each of those areas.  I track things like my giving, the number of books I read, how many days I spent away from my family, etcetera.  Then I set a goal in each area for the coming year.  What gets measured gets managed, so if you want to be better at the end of the year than you were at the beginning, it’s important to keep track of things and make plans to improve.  Bettering yourself is all about execution - what I mean is everyone knows what they ought to do, but actually getting yourself to do it is the key.  So to get better at execution, I try to find ways to embrace hardship and discomfort throughout the year, like taking cold showers, or reading a book in Spanish.  Life is hard enough, and I’m not a masochist, but I realize that I can keep my mind tough by choosing to do hard things on a regular basis, so when the real hardship comes, I will be strong enough to persevere.

 

Maybe I’ll do an extra video about how I set goals and share it on the Hot Zone patrons page.  If you’d like to get access to all our bonus content and get to correspond with me personally in the coming year, go subscribe on Patreon at Patreon.com/hotzone, it’s only thirty six bucks a year and you’ll get a signed copy of one of my books, all our bonus content and more.   

 

This coming year I’m going to do more than just make the news.  With your help, we’ll make the news GOOD for a lot of people.  I hope you’ll join me.  I’m Chuck Holton, and I want to wish all of you a very happy new year, and may God’s purpose be clear for your life in 2019. Thanks for watching the hot zone.

 

 

http://therivieramayatimes.com/yucatan-peninsula-mayan-train-project-is-back-on-track/

 

https://www.newsweek.com/new-migrant-caravan-15000-hondurans-arrive-mexico-coming-days-1272963