J.D.R. Hawkins

Resolutions

For many people, it is tradition to come up with a New Year’s resolution or two every year. Mine includes the usual: lose weight, quit vices, and be nicer (even though I try to be nice already). Next year promises to hold many adventures in store. I will have a new book coming out, we will hopefully buy a house, and I plan on taking more trips, possibly even abroad. These are also resolutions that I intend to keep.

Making a resolution means making a firm decision to do or not to do something. Another definition of “resolution,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is “the act of finding an answer or solution to a conflict, problem, etc.: the act of resolving something.: an answer or solution to something.” I hope that this New Year provides resolutions to conflicts and problems as well, such as terrorism, dependency on foreign oil, racial tensions, and political tyranny. May this New Year provide peace throughout the world, fairness, honesty, and a common understanding amongst all people. In other words, I hope to see “the peaceful resolution of all disputes.”

I have been writing a lot about the situation with the Confederate battle flag. It weighs heavily on my heart that the flag has been misconceived as something evil. When it was first designed, it was modeled after a Christian symbol, specifically Scotland’s St. Andrews Cross. How a cross can become racist is beyond me. I hope that those who suddenly consider Confederate statues to be a “nuisance” and the St. Andrews Cross to be racist will change their biased way of thinking.

In the spirit of new beginnings, I wish you a very happy New Year full of love, laughter, adventure, hope, and joy. May the New Year hold many pleasant surprises for you, and offer us all an opportunity for creative, constructive communication and compassion. Happy New Year!