2013: Resolving to Embrace the Unresolved

Let’s face it: It’s pretty darn difficult to make any kind of resolutions for 2013 when we have just narrowly escaped The Rapture, The Mayan Calendar Flaw, and Mitt Romney. And, with only a few days to go, we are perched on the edge of The Fiscal Cliff and the only people who can save us are a bunch of pissed off Congresspersons who will have to come back from vacation early. The days are starting to feel more like a Hopscotch game, where we are forced to hop on one leg and the lines are squiggly and we have back problems and a fake knee.

So this year, let’s resolve to leave things sort of open.  Here are some handy tips for success in the coming year:

Let’s start by finding an ancient civilization that predicted that the year 2013 would end on December 31, and not anytime sooner. (There must be one, if we look hard enough).  That way, we can spend more time and energy actually living.  We can also support the fresh food industry, instead of the canned goods industry, which, come to think of it, was probably behind the stockpile-for-the-apocalypse mentality anyway.

Let’s spout opinions that are based on something other than a five second sound bite or what Uncle Bart believes.  Let’s occasionally listen to talk radio that doesn’t consist of hosts who scream at non-human decibel levels.  In other words, let’s take a moment verify what we hear.

Every single day let’s tell the people we love that we love them. 

Let’s elect people to public office who want to be there.  Mitt Romney’s son Tagg said  “He (Mitt) wanted to be president less than anyone I’ve met in my life. If he could have found someone else to take his place . . . he would have been ecstatic to step aside.”  Tagg (doesn’t this sound suspiciously like Tripp?) said his father is a “private person” who wanted to help put the country back on its feet, but hated the limelight that came with presidential politics.  So can we decide to elect people to public office who 1. Run because they actually want to be in public service 2. Run because they want to change government, not stop it 3. Run with ideals, not dogma.

Let’s go for one day, pretending that our lives aren’t more important than anyone else’s. Let’s stop at the red light.  Let’s not cut in line in the store.  Let’s hold the door open for the person behind us. Let’s not speak until the other person is finished saying what he has to say.  If we survive that for one day, let’s try for a second.

Let’s look at children as the only hope we’ve got for the future of the world.  Let’s look at the elderly as the only hope we’ve got for where we, ourselves, are headed.  Both ends of the human age spectrum have to be protected and treated with dignity.  We haven’t been doing a great job with either, so far.  Let’s try to do better.

Let’s take one issue we are passionate about and do more than talk about it.  Write to your Congressperson. Send a letter to the editor.  Send money. March.  Volunteer. Do something. Let’s not look back at 2013 and just say our jobs were more lucrative or we took lots of vacations or our house was the biggest and the best or our children were the most beautiful and the most accomplished and the most intelligent.  A lot of us want some or all of that.  There is nothing new there.

Let’s embrace what is unresolved in the world. Let’s look back and say we did one thing in 2013 that we had never done before, one thing that we thought could benefit someone/everyone. One thing that could change the world, if enough people did the same thing. One thing. One.

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The previous is a perfect lead in to the new post on www.guerrillaaging.wordpress.com, in which I interview Betty Londergan. In 2010, at an age and in economic circumstances that could have easily resulted in Betty’s dabbling in some kind of volunteer work, hanging out at the country club and/or watching her mani/pedi dry, she chose another path.  That path led her to create What Gives 365, giving away $100/day for 365 to worthy people and organizations, and to write a blog about it, www.whatgives365.wordpress.com.  When that year ended, Betty dreamed up another blogging venture for herself and became the volunteer Global Blogging Ambassador for Heifer International, traveling around the world and writing about the projects Heifer creates in developing countries on her current blog www.heifer12x12.wordpress.com.  In addition to her heartfelt writing, she takes spectacular photos.