Changes instead

It seems every year people make resolutions they have no means to keep or interest in keeping. So don’t do that. I’m not going to tell you to try to actually lose that Christmas weight or kick that tick or habit you’ve meant to lose.

Instead of making resolutions every year, it’s time to just accept the past and move on. It’s a new decade. Whatever residual guilt or anger you have about the last decade, use it to make this one better.

The Shrub (aka former President Bush) has been out of office a year as of the 20th. It’s time to stop complaining about what he did or didn’t do and do what we can with what we have now to prevent or fix what problems we face. It’s time to stop letting talking heads with an agenda from that administration try to dictate and judge the actions taken to fix the messes they got us into.

They say if you forget the past, it repeats itself. But can’t we overlook that in the case of this generation of auto-tuned, fake pop stars? I can’t say if there’s another Nirvana just waiting to give this decade’s decadent “musicians” the boot, so for the time being it’s on you, the consumer. Stop buying Jamie Foxx and Kesha, find music that actually inspires you and stop listening to the same 40 bad pop songs every day.

Some people worry that the Large Hadron Collider will be the end of life. But for me, Foxx’s “Blame It” is a fate worse than any Hadron Collider-inspired Stephen King-type apocalypse. This country deserves better, and it’s time we tried.

Every musician you could ever want to hear is now on the internet and often free (sometimes legal). You don’t have to keep listening to the local club hits station. Don’t just believe everything the network news tells you. Look around. Find better answers. There’s a good reason every network news station rips on “The Daily Show” Because they are the only ones holding the network stations’ collective feet to the fire.
Instead of waving a flag, or attaching that yellow ribbon to your car, actually do something to make the world freer and a better place.

Don’t let people treat you like dirt, just because your guidance counselors and family tell you that you have to brown nose to get a leg up. The only reason people will walk all over you is because you let them. Even in a recession, there are other jobs out there. Look around. If your boss is a prick to you, you’re probably not the only one. Team up with co-workers. Call in sick when he’s there. Don’t let anyone treat you as anything less than equal.

Stop spending all your money, and save. If you don’t have debt, you don’t have to work 80 hours a week without overtime pay just to get by. The 21st century got off to a rough start. A new decade is the perfect time for us to change direction.


E-mail: mrstraw@indiana.edu