The new year is just around the corner. I think most people are ready for 2016 to be in the history books.
This year has been one of the toughest, most divisive years I can remember. People have fought and argued over everything from coffee cups to the presidential election.
People cannot just disagree and move on anymore. There has to be a "movement" about everything and we have to hear what every B-list celebrity has to say on the matter.
A new year means a new opportunity for us to be better people than we were before. We can’t change the weather, the stock market or who was elected President, but we can change how we react to them.
In 2017, we should forget the resolutions about diet and exercise and resolve to be kinder and respond with love more.
There are people who are rightfully concerned with the new president we have taking office in January. The great part about not agreeing with the president is we live in America and we can rally against a president until we are blue in the face, but we can choose to keep our protests or supports from breaking apart our families and friendships.
We can no longer agree to disagree and respect the freedoms others have to have an opinion even if it differs from ours. A perfect example of how horribly wrong our behavior has become is illustrated by a recent celebrity in the news who actually slapped someone who was in a car with a Trump sticker. The madness is coming from both sides. There was even a Trump supporter who punched a person against the president elect in the middle of a rally. When did this kind of behavior become okay?
2017 is a chance for us as a nation and as humans to put aside the madness and be better people in the new year.
The resolution I hope I can keep is to be sad when 2017 is over. I want to be friends with new people. I want to show people love and compassion. I want to make it to 2018 with zero regrets, sad the year was over and excited for the future.
Leave the mean-spirited arguments and derision behind in 2016, and strive to do be better, more loving people. Something I tell my children all the time is to be proactive, not reactive. If you are reactive, you get nothing done except showing people you can be a brat. By being proactive, you save energy you would use to make a fuss to help make a change.
In 2016 one of the celebrities we lost was Harry Morgan. He was in his 90's and played Colonel Potter on the old show MASH. Below is a video of one of the toasts he made during a new years party on the show. It's so appropriate for years like this one.
"Here's to the new year, may it be a damn site better than the old one."