I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions because, for most of us, they seem impossible to keep. We have good intentions, of course, when we resolve to put our bad habits behind us, to lose the extra 20 pounds or quit smoking or learn a new hobby.
But three years ago, I did make a resolution. I wanted to lose weight and get healthy, a resolution I have (mostly) kept, thanks to a 5-foot-2 dynamo named Chelsea, who helped me.
And this year, I’m making another resolution. It’s one I hope many of you will take up with me, as well.
In 2020, I’m going to be nicer.
As a society, we’re not so nice anymore. We cut people off in traffic. We talk on our phones in the movie theater. We post nasty, hateful diatribes online. We can’t muster even a faint smile and a weak hello for the people we pass on the street. Our kids bully their classmates.
Our politics have become a hate fest. We spend our time calling the other side “the enemy.” We believe anyone who doesn’t believe exactly what we believe is trying to destroy the country. It’s “our way or the highway,” and we refuse to sit down with the other side to seek common ground, which whether you want to admit it or not exists on nearly every issue. We refuse to compromise.
Why? How did we get here?
The Founding Fathers are rolling over in their graves. They created a brilliant system of government – maybe the most brilliant in history – based on giving voice to the other side. They felt the minority viewpoint was critical for the government to work.
Hardly a day goes by when I don’t see an angry, hate-filled political Facebook post from a friend I admire. And it almost never discusses the issue at hand. It’s usually a poke at someone’s intelligence. Or looks.
Here’s a newsflash for you: People are not the enemy, they are not ugly and they are not stupid just because they had the audacity, the pure unmitigated gall to have a different political opinion than you.
Maybe it’s the fault of talk radio or anonymous Internet blogs or the fact that we’ve all retreated into our air-conditioned houses instead of sitting on our front porches talking to our neighbors.
Jesus said, “Love thy neighbor, as thy love thyself.” Note there’s a period at the end of that sentence. Jesus didn’t say, “Love they neighbor unless he’s black. Or unless he’s gay. Or unless he’s a Democrat.”
I see too many people who tell me what a good Christian they are, only to turn around and act in a very un-Christian-like way. Some folks need to stop thumping the Bible and read it.
Why can’t kindness become so ingrained in the way we act daily that we no longer have to think about being kind?
I’m not talking about the government, though the politicians need to take heed, too. I’m talking about you and me. Thank people who have helped you. Reach out to someone who may need help of their own, even if you don’t agree with everything they believe. Just being nicer and more polite can make a world of difference.
In 2020, I resolve to be nicer. I hope you’ll do the same. We all live on this giant rock called Earth together. We owe it to each other.
