...and in with the new

I don't do New Year's resolutions. For several reasons.
First off, the very world "resolution" implies two things: one, that my life has problems, and two, that they are problems I have had for some time and tried to solve at least once before (otherwise, why would I need to "re-solve" them?) Neither of these things is true. Granted, my world is not perfect, and improvements can always be made, but I try to accept whatever my life brings and not view any of it as problematic, requiring solution, or even worse, "re-solution".
Second, I attach no special significance to January 1. If I decide to change my life in a little or a large way, I can just as easily make that decision on February 17 or July 22.
Third, and let's face it, most New Year's resolutions are bound to fail. Not all of them, mind you: my wife quit smoking two years ago, starting the process on January 1 and smoking her last cigarette on January 12, and she hasn't smoked since. It's an accomplishment she can take a good deal of pride in. I know I'm proud of her, all the more so because, let's face it, most New Year's resolutions are bound to fail.
I'll go in to work on Monday and be confronted with the mother of all yogurt orders. Its husband will follow on Tuesday morning and then Granny will drop in Tuesday afternoon. My dairy department will be awash in yogurt. It happens every year. For three or four weeks, people will Hoover yogurt out of my dairy aisle almost as fast as it can be stocked, because yogurt, you see, is good for you.
Sometime around Groundhog Day a Great Truth will have occurred to the majority of these folks. It will be expressed different ways. Some will say "you know what? I don't like yogurt"; others, veterans of the process, will tell themselves "nope, I still don't like yogurt". A few customers will say "I don't care if this stuff is good for me: it tastes like fruit-slime." And yogurt sales will gradually drop off.
This same thing happens all over the place. Gyms experience a spike in membership every January like clockwork, and by February you'll find a cadre of former exercise hounds who have decided they'd rather be fat than sweaty. You can't turn on a television right now without seeing a Nicorette commercial, but they'll decline in frequency over time as people decide they're not ready to quit just yet.
Understand this: if you are determined to quit smoking, to exercise, to eat healthy this year, don't let me stop you. Only you can change your life or your attitude: nothing I say should make the slightest difference.
I said all that to say this.
There are certainly some things I would like to see in 2005. I'd like to see a lot less random violence and a lot more deliberate kindness in the world. I'd like to see a peaceful end to hostilities in Iraq, and for the United States to make some effort at restoring its reputation. Robert Heinlein once predicted that America would never start a pre-emptive war, because "John Wayne never hits first". Sadly, that prediction went up in a puff of nationalism a couple of years back, but perhaps it's not too late to salvage something out of this mess.
I'd like to see people stop arguing about the reality of global warming, whether it exists or not and whether we have anything to do with it. We're raping our environment in a myriad of ways aside from spewing chlorofluorocarbons into the air, and we need to stop it. Now.
And much closer to home, I'd like to see a couple of children filling our home with love and wonder by next Christmas. The process is on track, but it's a dreadfully long and uncertain process.

To all of you out there in the whole wide world: Happy 2005. May you be happy, joyful and abundant, because being all these things is the only way to experience them. Trust me on this.