Be a Better Person this Year

In our culture, a new year signifies a new beginning. People make resolutions they hardly ever keep. Mostly after a few days or a couple of weeks we resume our “normal” lives.

I wish this year could be different. I wish it could be the year of caring. I wish it was the year that nobody went hungry, nobody died from exposure because the have no home.

I wish it was the year that no soldiers died in service, and that most of them could come home.

I wish it was the year we realize we need to change our energy needs, and begin to try and reverse the damage to our climate.

I wish that nobody dies from an overdose, and that a cure for cancer can be found.

Why can’t these things, and many other problems with our world and our civilization be done?

We put men on the moon. So these other simple things should be a cinch. We put so much research money into weapons of mass destruction, that the Russians say they have an unstoppable bomb. Yet, the cancer rate in their country is among the highest in the world, if not the highest. Remember Chernobyl? Could they cure cancer if they spent the same amount of money researching it as they do nuclear bombs? Could we in America do it if we spent the same amount of money on research as we do on weapons?

Things will more than likely stay the same. Status quo, or maybe get worse.

As I said earlier this week, the best we can do is to love our family and care for them first, and then try to extend that circle gradually outward. We can encompass friends, then take in strangers. We can care for citizens and immigrants. We can do it if, and only if we want to. We can decide to be better, or we can stay stuck in stasis. We can band together for good, or we can let those people who hate take us over, and tell us how to think. I don’t want to do that.

I want to become more active in helping people, all people that I can. I want to take better care of my dogs, even if it’s just a warm blanket for them to sleep with. They are old, and so am I. Warm blankets mean a lot. Warm hugs mean a lot. Warmth is caring, not caring is callousness. I’ve had it with callousness.

Now, after the ball drops, I’m going to bed and listen to Dan Fogelberg sing “Another Auld Lang Syne” and try and get some sleep. Then I’m going to wake up in a new year tomorrow and try and be a better man.

That’s not a resolution, that’s a promise. Join me if you can.

Happy New Year to everyone. Love you all.