There is in each of us the need to make a difference in the world around us.

I truly believe in the inherent goodness of human beings.

I may not always like human beings.  Or all human beings.  And, on some days, very few human beings.

But, on the whole, I believe that human beings are remarkable creatures who have the capacity to do amazing things for one another.

I am not naïve.

I also know that human beings can be loathsome creatures who have the capacity to do horrific things to one another.

I do believe there is Evil in the world.

I believe there is, every single minute of every single day, far more Good in the world.

It’s difficult to see it some days.

When we see our political “leaders” bicker with one another so much that they shut down the very government they were elected to lead it is arguable that they represent anything good in our lives.

Stories of terrible people doing terrible things to one another lead nearly every newscast and are blared out on the radio and in huge letters in newspapers and on the internet.

It’s enough for any reasonable human being to conclude that the human race is broken, and we may be at the end of our run.

Which is why, as we come to the end of 2018 and prepare for the beginning of 2019, I’ve reluctantly decided to agree to a New Year’s Eve Resolution.

I hate New Year’s Eve Resolutions.

They are often screeds about getting fitter, eating better, reading more or living a bigger, bolder and larger life.

Don’t get me wrong.  I understand the need for motivation.  But, motivational memes and clarion calls to take risks and do outrageous things do little for me.

Maybe it is my natural cynicism.  Or, maybe it’s because I am a curmudgeon.  It’s probably a little bit of both that has me left cold to these efforts to amp up my enthusiasm to get outside of my comfort zone.

I live outside my comfort zone daily.  It can be outright exhausting.

Contrary to popular opinion I am not an extrovert.

While the entirety of my life’s career has required me to be one, I would more often prefer to be somewhere in the corner of a room unnoticed by everyone in it.

I’ve taken lots of risks in my life.  It is not a matter of courage as it has been a matter of necessity.

When you are of C- intellect and you posses no discernable life skills you have no choice but to take risks in life.

Yet, my fear is palpable in doing so.

I am afraid of the dark.  Small animals, insects and birds terrify me.

Yet, my cabin has a crawlspace that forces me, from time to time, to get into it and fix something.  I once had to save a squirrel that was stuck in stair railing and I nearly wet myself in the process.  I am fascinated by bees while at the same time I am convinced they are trying to kill me and while I think birds are magnificent creatures, they have eyes that follow me wherever I go.

So, when I decide that I will resist my natural inclination to avoid having a New Year’s Resolution it is, for me,  big deal.

So, what is my New Year’s Resolution?

It’s to be better at seeing the better in the world around me.

More importantly, I want to do better in calling out the good in the world around me.

I know.  It’s not very earth shattering.  It probably won’t change the world in a big and impactful way.

That’s okay, for me.

You see, every single day I see the better and the good in the world around me.

I see it in the men and women who work at Spare Key, www.sparekey.org, and make it their life’s work to make the lives of other people a little easier.

I see it in the members of my Board of Directors, as well.  Busy people with busy lives who have committed to serving on a Board to lift up people they will never meet but who desperately need their help.

I see it, too, in the volunteers who support the Twin Cities Squadron Sea Cadets www.seacadetstwincities.org, and give of their knowledge, skill, time and talent to train young men and women to give them confidence and build in them leadership skills.

I see it with those who teach my children at their schools.  In their JROTC Program, www.cretin-derhamhall.org/academics/academic-departments/jrotc/overview/ and their Robettes, www.therobettes.com Program.

And, I see it with my friends who have begun a transformation with www.promisehub.com

Imagine lifting millions of people up in the world to be job creators who can lift millions of others up to be job creators to create billions of jobs for billions of people?

All it took was two middle-age guys standing in a camp in Lebanon reading a note from a Syrian girl to look at one another and say, “We can do something for someone somewhere in a world that most everyone else forgot!”

And, they did.  And, most assuredly, they have with the passion, devotion and love of a small team around them who have dug in hard and done the work.

Some do it as a vocation, but all of them do it as their avocation.

In a time in which there is no shortage of platforms to call out the bad in the world I dedicate 2019 to calling out the good in the world around me.

I hope you will help me.

Perhaps you will share with me those stories of good people doing good things.

Or, maybe you will join with me in sharing more of those stories on your own platforms in your life.

My resolution in 2019 is to post something every single day about somebody doing something good in the world.

And, I begin that resolution by posting this:  You do good in the world.

Each and every one of you.

How you do it.  When you do it.  Where you do it.  It doesn’t matter.

Nor does it matter whether anybody but you knows you did it.

You will know it.

And, when all is said and done, and when each of us is said and done, all that matters is whether we felt we did good in the world.

Not enough.  Not more than enough.

Just whether we did any good in the world.

If all you did was any good, then you have done enough good in the world.