My New Year's Resolution

Goodbye, 2010’s.  Goodbye to a decade that was in my personal life, frankly a little rough.  Goodbye to the old, I am ready for something new.  I am ready for the 2020s.

I was struck recently by the realization that the 1920s started 100 years ago.  Unlike the 1900s or 1910s, the 1920s feel like the modern era to me.  Women in the 20s wore short hair, and short skirts, and pants.  Cars were a regular part of the landscape, and swing dancing (one of my favorite things to do) became a thing.  There were even commercial fixed-wing flights regularly scheduled in the 1920’s - 100 years ago.  It seems surreal that such a thoroughly modern decade was so long ago.

The 1920s was a decade that was remarkable for its optimism.  The Great War had just ended, socially progress was being made, and financially the world was doing very well.  It seemed likes the good times would never end, and yet they were on the brink of an economic and ecological disaster (the great depression and the dust bowl) which would be shortly followed by extremist nationalism that would fuel genocide and the worst war the world has ever seen.

We are at a crossroads now.  While the world is doing okay now, we are on the brink. Extremist nationalism is on the rise and there are signs of economic and ecological disaster on the horizon. The 2020s is a decade in which we could turn things around.  If we pull our heads out of the sand and begin working on real positive change we could start a new golden age, a new modern era that we could all be proud to be a part of.  If we ignore the warning signs, fail to learn from our past mistakes and do nothing, then we will be doomed to repeat ourselves.  

Now is the time to make a change in our own lives and the world around us.  That is why my New Year’s Resolution this year is to try.  I plan to simply show up every day and do what I can to reach my goals, and make the world a better place in my own small way.  If we all simply tried we could change the world.