2 January 2017: New Years Resolutions

These are my suggested resolutions for 2017.

1. Improve our health.  For most of us, this means eating better and exercising more.  The world is going to present difficult challenges in 2017, and we need to be at our best.  Dr. Joel Kahn, my medical school classmate (University of Michigan, 1983), recommends becoming vegan.  But even if we cannot do this, we can make vegetables and fruits more prominent in our diet.  It not only helps attain / maintain a healthy weight, but I feel much better on a regular basis.  I now try to start each meal with a healthy soup, salad and vegetables.  There is a myth that every meal has to have a major protein, such as eggs, meat, fish or cheese.  Yet probably none of us knows anyone who is protein malnourished, and we all know many who are overweight.  I find the Forks over Knives website useful.

2. Engage in the political process.  It is our responsibility to communicate regularly with our elected officials.  Most of us, myself included, have shirked this duty, and we see the results - public officials committed to their own careers first, their party second, and the general welfare far behind.  Those of us with responsible jobs should be examples to the rest - we can certainly write one or two emails a month to a public official about some issue of concern.  It will have a greater impact than a Facebook post to our friends.

Ken Burns wrote a letter, quoted in the Washington Post:

What to do, you ask? A million things, of course. But it begins only with the first step of awareness and commitment, which you have already made.

Just go forward. Engage. Don’t despair. Find likeminded people — not from your social circle, but everywhere. Change the opinions of others, not with ridicule, but reason. Finally, remember too that Barack Obama himself has said that the highest office in the land is not president, but citizen.

Be one.

3. Vote every day with your wallet.  Are the banks too big?  You can downsize them by switching your accounts, or your credit cards, to a credit union.  Upset about wealth inequality?   Patronize Trader Joe's or Costco, or other stores committed to paying their employees a living wage.  Avoid businesses like CVS with an obscene CEO / employee pay ratio.

4. Fight evil (note: if you believe Barack Obama was born in Kenya, climate change is a hoax, or Fox is a legitimate news source, this paragraph is not for you).  We should boycott sex predators, adolescent public officials, those destroying public education and taking away our rights.  That includes businesses owned by Trump, Devos, Koch, Murdoch and others.  Everyone has a right to their opinion, but not to take away our rights and use government to enrich themselves.  Sometimes we are limited in our choices, but we have a lot more freedom than we think.

What are your resolutions?