New year just might bring new possibilities

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I’d like to paraphrase one of the best rock bands ever by saying the 2025 “is a year of hope.”

At least, that was running through my brain the last few days when I’m digging up the plethora of ideas for a column.

Sure, I could have gone with the Texas legislator being MIA since July — while living in a memory care facility (shades of President Biden), or the squishy U.S. House having to borrow more money to fund a government because all of the funding stuff they should have done was left to the last minute.

Maybe I could have written about the racial divisions, political divisions, sexual divisions, gender divisions or even geographic divisions that exist — rather ignorantly — throughout our country and our world.

I could also talk about what is now euphemistically referred to as climate change, or fossil fuels, or the wars and rumors of wars that we see and hear, or that what we see and hear is either partial or complete falsehoods designed to elicit an outcome, not to inform.

We all know these things pervade our society and our world. We all lament the state of the planet and our government and our society. Let’s change the narrative, flip the script, turn the beat around.

I’m talking about hope.

At this time of year, most everyone makes New Year’s resolutions. Most of them are goals that are either too hard or too soft or inconsequential; I’ll never be a skinny man again, I’ve already given up cigarettes, I’m probably going to die in debt while never seeing a new car again.

Most of those resolutions are cracked by Epiphany, if not the third week of January, for a variety of reasons; that’s OK. If you pick something that’s easier, though, it might hold.

For instance, let’s resolve to be kind, in word, in deed, all day every day. Our lives are marked by frustration, aggravation, and even despair, so my thought is that instead of living in a world where everyone only looks out for themselves, wanting the world to show deference, how about let’s look to what others need. Turn desire into love.

Let’s resolve to be informed. Stop taking the things that newscasters or politicians or even professors as gospel and remember the real Gospels. Do research, dig into things, and even require people who give you information and statistics to back up the figures.

Let’s resolve to follow the Golden Rule. Let’s also resolve to make that just as much of a lesson for children as math and science.

Let’s resolve to step away from things that anger or inconvenience us, because engaging will just make the situation worse. If your actions can’t convince someone that you have a point, or that you care, or that you want peace, your words certainly won’t.

And let’s resolve to hope. Hope can lead to action, and action can lead to change.

I hope your holidays were amazing, and I hope this year is the best for you and for everyone.

Tony Farkas is editor of the Trinity County News-Standard and the San Jacinto News-Times. He can be reached at tony@polkcountypublishing.com.