Here we are at the beginning of another new year. As I look forward to 2026, a part of me is always amazed that we have made it this far collectively, and that I have made it this far individually.
I don’t mean to say that I’ve had a hard life, or anything like that. On balance, I’ve seen hardships, but my life has been easy compared to so many others. Now, comparison is often described as the thief of joy but for me it can also be a grounding influence. I don’t want to get too caught up in the issues that would easily and rightly be called “first world problems” for someone of my economic, social and intellectual status. Lord, let me not take anything for granted these days.
But 26 years into the new millennium I sometimes feel I’m running without a script. As a stalwart Generation X member, I felt like the world was going to end via nuclear holocaust as a result of growing up in the Cold War. Surely, we wouldn’t make it out of the 1990s, much less into a new millennium. And yet here we are not only well into it, but into the second decade of it. And I must admit that while we have seen many horrible things since then (9/11, COVID, Hurricane Helene, to name but a few…) we have also seen some incredibly good stuff like medical advancements, helping each other through those calamities in rare examples of national unity and amazing technological achievements.
As we look over the next 12 months, I hope we can all move away from the demagoguery of some recent petty and revenge-minded politicians and focus more on the things we have in common than on our differences. Working together to protect and participate in our own democracy is the best kind of New Year’s Resolution I can think of for 2026.
Well, I mean, maybe I’d also like to lose 20 pounds this year, too – but having freedom of choice might make that easier, right?
