As I type this during the sometimes odd feeling interlude between Christmas and New Years, I find myself getting more contemplative about the year ahead and reflective of the year now coming to a close.  

Both for individuals and for the country and world as a whole, some years are forgotten, some are a blur, some are chock full of cherished memories and great accomplishments, others stained and marred by heartache, loss, and tragedy, but most years have some mix of all of the above.  

No one can accurately predict what a new year will bring, but here’s what I do know….2024 will be a decisive year.  

It will either be a year where America emphatically rejects fascism and authoritarianism at home, or allows it to continue to grow.  

It will either be a year where America continues to soberly accept its leadership role in world affairs or decides to step back from the stage and hastens its own decline in the process.

Here’s what else I know about 2024, both for ourselves individually and for our country.  It will be what we make of it.  

Now, people like countries are not in control of their own destinies entirely.  

There is chance, luck, the decisions of others, the lies we tell ourselves, the truths we accept or reject, the effort we put in or choose not to put in, and the self-defeating fears that keep us from taking action, that all play a part in how our days and years turn out.  

I truly hope and fervently wish that 2024 is nothing but a good and prosperous year for everyone the world over, but the reality is for most people it will be like any other year….a mixed blessing of good and bad, darkness and light.  

Let us all resolve to make a daily commitment to do our best to leave the people we interact with each day better off than we find them, to treat ourselves and each other with as much kindness and gentleness as we can muster, and maybe, just maybe, a year from now we can all reflect back on the truly amazing year that was 2024.