As we all look towards the upcoming year, 2016 lingers on in our minds as one of the most divisive years yet, with many issues becoming a clash of polar opposite sides. Were you Black Lives Matter or Blue Lives Matter? Did Harambe's death mean anything to you or was it all just one massive internet joke? Did you vote for Trump or Hillary? Were you with her or him? These are just a few examples from the past year. We all took our stands and posted our banners on one side or the other. And one thing remained consistent throughout:

We were angry that 'they' didn't get it.

If anything, 2016 was the year we chose not to communicate effectively. Communication is a funky, yet beautiful art. We take our thoughts, relate them to the tangible, universal concepts or experiences most everyone should know, and then our audience takes the words, re-conceptualizes them through their own experiences and forms their own idea of what it was we communicated. And in 2016, social media could show us that we chose not to listen to the 'other', frequently.

Naturally this doesn't bode well for 2017, and the question on everyone's mind is: What's going to happen next?

Here's something I learned in 2016 that may just become relevant (#relevant) to 2017.

Individual action is weak, but cumulative.

I'll address that further below. I, as a white, middle-class, straight, 20-something year old male have not only the responsibility to understand the issues of our recent past and future, but occasionally the responsibility to act on it. We all need to engage and act upon the topics that matter, but contextually. The concept of 'checking your privilege' made up a large part of the early 2016 discussion of issues. That is, acknowledging that one's opinion on a topic is in part (if not in whole, as posed by the slogan) based on your race, sexual orientation, class, age, and gender and other demographic information. So, as one with a high degree of 'privilege', I have to ask myself: How will I best engage with the issues presented in 2016, and those to come in 2017? So bear with me as I reason and preach to myself. And my suspicion is that these concepts not only apply to me, but to all people.

1. Listen First

As I put forward above, we have not done enough to listen to each other in 2016. Throughout the year I found myself continually unaffected by the issues brought forward by the press and social media, but still at least mentally engaged in the topics on my own terms. Coming back to communicating from experience, the further degrees I'm separated from the issue, the more intently I must listen. I must not only hear the issue from the one who is more directly experiencing it, but need to contextualize the issue for myself. In a way, I need to make it my issue too, if only to better understand.

2. Know Our Place

That said, understanding the issues I engage in does not mean I need to immediately act on every issue. Understanding the issue (which is by no means an immediate process), I can determine the degree to which I can be involved in reaching a solution for that issue. For example, let's say I live in a largely suburban area. While I can learn and empathize with refugee issues there is little I can do from my position to positively affect the scenario, since areas like mine may have little to do with actual refugees. Having a positive social media presence on the issue is a viable option of course, but to affect real change I'd have to move to an area where the issue is happening. I should hope that in our urgency to gain understanding and show sympathy and kindness that we know the limits of spreading ourselves too thin. Understand many issues, but act on the ones you can have a real effect on.

3. Act and Inform

"Individual action is weak, but cumulative" as I said earlier. One can get as involved as one wants and make life altering choices based on new perspective, but that can only go so far to affect change on a wider scale. Thus, having understood and engaged in an effectual way it now becomes your job to continue to bring people into the solution. This may in fact be the most difficult, as your solution will not be the same as the solution of others. Remember that one must listen more intently for those solutions that are opposed to your own. Their are many who simple wish to retain their comfort, which is ethically unsound, but ultimately it is their mind they must change. Then again, there are those who actually do have an important perspective to add to the matter and need more consideration and thought. In all things, act with kindness.

4. Delegate

I only bring this up because we are all intrinsically concerned with power. The power to make our lives or the lives of others better. Perhaps even concerning ourselves with the power to live comfortably... And it is important to remember that only so much power is good for a singular person and often needs to be given up. I propose that delegation is such a way to deal with power and influence and gives others the impetus to inform and act as an effective way to "pass the baton".

And so, in conclusion, while I may not have dealt explicitly with being in the majority of privilege, I think these are all necessary concepts to follow as we start 2017. That we listen to understand, we know our place within the context of the issue, we engage and inform, and delegate power to those without power with all the responsibility that carries. It is my hope that having gone through 2016, we've learned so much more about how to approach the issues that are going to be presented to us during 2017.