Everywhere one goes these days, it isn’t hard to overhear talk of change. The amorphous term is supposedly back and here for good. Turn on the TV and that’s all we hear about: American automakers promising fuel-efficient cars, the Arizona Cardinals heading to the Super Bowl, girls gone wild “”again.”” “”Change is finally here,”” remarked one friend of mine as he promptly changed the channel. OK, I need to “”change”” from being cynical, but many people are already trumpeting the coronation – I mean inauguration – of President-elect Barack Obama as if he is the catalyst for the real change needed in the country.
The word “”change”” in its own right has now taken on an illusory fatalism and a transcendent spiritual power that solves all ills. I question at what point this abstract concept will translate into substantive results for the better. The new year has barely begun, and already I find myself breaking those changes I promised to be resolute about. To counteract our tendency for procrastination and idleness, as Congress so eloquently practices, I suggest “”Change”” Year’s resolutions. Think of them no longer as resolutions to attempt change, but changes to how we resolve issues. The following are a few of my suggestions:
Lose weight. Ah, the hardest change to make a reality and at the top of most people’s new years resolutions. In a change year, with the federal deficit out of control due to fat spending, we may start to consider our spending habits. For all the Keynesians out there, we may want to tone down the rhetoric and really think what we are putting into our debt-ridden bodies.
Be nice to the neighbors. If change has really come, maybe we should get to know our allies a little bit better. In terms of the neighbors we don’t like, let’s make sure the dog doo on our lawn is really from our neighbor’s dog before we start sending Gates over to retaliate.
Get along with the family. The Democrats are in control of Congress. Big deal. Republicans have been there and they can attest to its cyclical nature. A divided house doesn’t function in any family and now that we understand that the divorce of 1861 didn’t work very well, we might as well hunker down and understand that there are no “”two Americas”” (South Americans, please ignore).
Be Yourself. Mr. Obama’s promises for change resulted from a nation’s identity crisis and mistakes. Think of it as Mick inspiring Rocky, except Obama is limited to a single sequel. We cannot expect results from our political and economic systems if we are not primarily concerned with being true to ourselves in the first place. The most exciting thing about President Obama’s inauguration is the call to set forth our own vision of the future and for America to continue to be the oracle of the free world.
Theory into practice is always the hard part, especially when the temptation to fall back into old partisanship supersedes our desire and hope for a better America. Let’s hope we have the willpower to implement our good intentions. If only we keep our “”Change”” Year’s resolutions, we would surely be a better nation.
– Paul Cervantes is an accounting senior.
