I will say it right now. Normally, I don't go in for this kind of thing. The changing of a year is not going to automatically change everything. Sure, promise to work out more, try for that raise at work, lose the weight you've been saying you'd lose for the past 10 new years. I think it is just a way for us to feel optimistic about a new year. That's it. Really, though, how many New Year's resolutions actually happen?

However, this year, I'm biting the bullet. I'll make a few resolutions, and I hope you will join me in this. You see, my resolutions are not necessarily for myself.

I want to smile once a day at a stranger.

I want to leave the change when I pay for a meal or coffee.

I want to spend more time with my family, whether that be in person, over a video call, or on the phone.

I want to go to more cultural events on campus to meet more people and learn more about their lives.

I want to have one deep discussion with a friend once a week.

I want to treat every customer, every coworker, every person I meet at work with respect and honor.

I want to understand and listen to more people's life stories.

I want to volunteer more.

I want to show people how loved they are.

I want to be myself and for others to be themselves without fear.

Because that is not always me. Normal me is a grouch in the mornings who would rather scream at the bikers who nearly run me down than smile and say good morning. Normal me would rather accept my everyday life as the only everyday life, without ever giving a thought to the traditions and cultures that surround the lives of my friends and peers. Normal me wants to sleep in on the weekends, not work at a homeless shelter or with abandoned animals for free. Normal me is too busy to take the time to sit down and understand where another person is coming from. Normal me would look at this list of resolutions and say, "Blahhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

More and more we are all becoming more closed to the world around us. We will not consider who those around us are, what made them that way, what they believe in, what they want and what they dream. We have forgotten how to understand and love.

It is so easy for us to hit "Like" on a Facebook post about a soldier suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, yet is is so hard for us to sit next to that soldier and hear his story fall from his lips. It is so easy for us to share posts about the homeless, but so few actually take the time to spend a Saturday morning working in a soup kitchen to help the same homeless the rest of us were so sympathetic towards on social media. We post and tweet and share about spending time with family and how much we really miss them, yet try to find excuses to shorten our time with them.

We have distanced ourselves in today's society without even knowing it. Our emotional support of a cause or a belief is expressed through a "Like" button or on an internet profile. It costs us nothing, and by costing nothing, we have no reason to invest in it. I was amazed at some of the people around me when the Paris attacks occurred. They put the French flag filter over their profile pictures and posted with the "Pray for Paris" hashtag, but did nothing else. It didn't affect them any further. Yet my coworker came to work sobbing. Her family is French, and she is studying here in America. For her, the loss of lives was real. For her, the land of her birth, her nation, had been attacked. No one else cared. For them, it was a click on social media. They had no idea the course of my friend's life had changed forever.

What would happen if it wasn't just a post anymore? What if we actually did what we claim to support? What if we put our money and time where our mouths are? What if we tried to understand and actually listened to what is being said?

Imagine what would happen if we each took the time to understand those around us, to learn about other cultures, other childhoods, issues that may not affect us but affect other members of the human race. After all, that is what we are. Regardless of religion, skin color, birthplace, education, socioeconomic standing, we are all part of the same race--the human race. My African American hallmate bleeds red just like I do. My Buddhist and Muslim friends still breathe the same air and wake up to the same sun every morning. We are all in this together, so why wouldn't we invest in each other? Why would we reduce the causes that our brothers and sisters hold so dear to nothing more than a hashtag or a Facebook post?

This year, as we watch the ball drop and the celebrities dance around Times Square as confetti shoots through the freezing air, let's resolve to take steps every day to make the human race our cause. Smile at the cashier when you go shopping. Leave the change for the waitress at dinner. Call your family. Listen to the story that brought someone to this point in their lives. Reach out to someone who needs help. It is not as hard or as dreadful as we have made it out to be. Think of all the good that will come of this! Think of the peace we will be achieving in the war-torn world.

This is my New Year's resolution. I hope you will join me.