Maslow's Hierarchies of Matters - December 2025

Man I am so glad 2025 is over so I can now stop doing this.  It was interesting but making these monthly lists was definitely a chore.  It helped me realize, though, how little of the year's news was all that important to my life.  Obviously there are some people for whom much of it was important, but I am not an illegal immigrant in America, a Ukrainian, a Russian soldier, or an Israeli soldier, or a Palestinian.  I'm going to guess that is less than 2% of the world population.  Most of the things that impact me are through higher costs, which is bad for me, but not going to kill or capture me - and certainly not violently.


Well, let's wrap this up.  Following through is important.  What were the MAIN things that mattered in December?  What was, and wasn't, worth our valuable attention?

Major: Very important, will be impactful.

Flu spike!  Getting sick is terrible and affects you directly, and worse if you don't have sick-time to use for work.

Appreciable: Good context to keep in mind, but don't sweat the details.

Was and remains appreciable: The ongoing genocide in Sudan and China.

Incidental: Good to know, but of limited use beyond its own topic.


Was Incidental in June, will remain Incidental: The Ukraine V Russia war continues to burn on and there is lots to learn about if those conflicts interest you.  Obviously if you live in those places this is Major, and if you have personal connections it may be Major or Appreciable.

Negligible: Ignore this as much as possible.

Was Incidentald  in November, now is Negligible: the Israel V Palestinian/Hezbollah/Houthis conflict would probably be dropped entirely if I continued this.  Again if you live in those places this is Major, and if you have personal connections it may be Major or Appreciable.

Was and remains Negligible: Continued anti-immigrant actions.  We're still nowhere near the level of mass deportations, and still within the realm of "individual stories which can be tracked," which means these are tragedies, not statistics.  It can get worse - save your outrage for if it does.  If you know or are an unauthorized immigrant, or are in one of the cities with a lot of ICE activity such that even American citizens and authorized immigrants are getting detained, obviously this becomes a Major story for you which should command a lot of your attention.

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Later this week I'll make a post evaluating my predictions for 2025, make some for 2026, and share my plan for this blog for the future.

Thank you for reading! If you'd like to toss me some support please Venmo me.  If you disagree with something or if I missed a story you'd like my take on, let me know!

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