Happy New Year

I have been thinking that, instead of making some New Year's resolution, I would take this post of The Shiloh Insider to share some simple dreams for what 2014 could and may look like. I call them the Top Ten Dreams for 2014:

10. Name Calling: I wish that people would stop using name calling as a means of solution to disagreements. I wish people would learn to respect varying opinions, even or especially when they do not agree with our own.

9. Sharing: I wish that people would relearn the simple kindergarten curriculum on sharing. The simple task of sharing what we have makes us better people, and makes others, particularly those with whom we share, happier.

8. Helpfulness: I wish that people would take the time and make the effort to do one thing daily simply to help someone else. Whether that helpfulness comes in the form of Random Acts of Kindness (RAK's), or is the intentionally planned assistance that so many of our brothers and sisters rely upon, acts of helpfulness unite us as a community and a family.

7. Open-Mindedness: I wish that people would be less motivated to protect their own ways of thinking and behaving and more accepting of those who think and act in different ways. I often witness true intelligence in the form of accepting others, despite differences, instead of in forcing others to believe and act "rightly," according to some imagined, non-established orthodoxy.

6. Compassion: I wish people would make the effort of seeing the suffering and challenges that others might be facing instead of holding others to some advantaged standard of behavior. Persons never know what goes on with those around them, unless they are willing to invest themselves in them. I wish that we were more compassionate.

5. Unity: I wish that people could be more invested in working toward the unity of all types, kinds, clans, origins and life-styles instead of protecting sectarian groups, kinds, clans, ilks and tastes. Even the Church would be better served if we worked toward the unity of all people instead of laboring for the advantage of some.

4. Kindness: I wish that people were nicer. Where I was raised, people waved at one another and said "Hello." It is simple kindness to allow those around us to believe that they are worthy of out attention and greeting. There is no reason that I can think of why we shouldn't be more than just polite.

3. Giving of Time: I wish that people were more generous with their time, outside of their own immediate family units. It is easy to take care of "our own." To invest time and energy in those outside of our own families is the greatest gift that we can give, especially in a culture wherein time is the chief commodity.

2. Constructive: I wish that people spent as much time and energy being constructive as they do being destructive. It takes no more effort to build someone up than it does to tear down that same person. It simply requires that we be conscious and mindful of the difference.

1. Positive: I wish that people could see that we live in a beautiful world, nation, community, church and neighborhood. There is far less wrong with us than people imagine. If we switched our attitudes from negative to positive, we could overcome together the challenges that we face. Positive energy gives and feeds while negative energy takes and needs. Which will we be in 2014?

I urge readers of The Shiloh Insider to pick each, or one, of these wishes for 2014 and make it true in the lives of those around you. Be a source of goodness, generosity, grace and love. I promise that the world around us will change if we do.

Happy New Year!