Dear 2017,
Please be kind. I’m sure you’ve heard by now, 2016 has been rough. It’s been a year of hatred, of ignorance, intolerance, inequality and of senseless acts of tragedy. Yet we’ve all survived, clinging to the hope of the rebirth of the new year, of new beginnings, and a fresh start.
I pray that you will be that new start, the light at the end of the year long tunnel that we’ve all been wandering, a burst of optimism for our weary souls. I pray that you will be accepting of everyone, all races, genders, religions, and sexualities. I pray that you can reverse all the wrong that 2016 has brought, and bring about a better world.
But 2017, I know you can’t do it alone. And that’s where we all come in.
It is wrong to just sit here and simply wish for a better 2017. Because a simple change of year won’t change us. If we truly want change; if we truly want a better world, it starts with all of us.
As cliche as it sounds, Mahatma Ghandi was onto something when he said to “Be the change you wish to see in the world”. Because if you want change, you have to be the one to bring it about.
So as we near the end of 2016, and the beginning of 2017, I urge you to stop wishing for some kind of automatic change, and go out and make that change yourself.
Because when it comes down to it, that’s all we can really do.
