Resolutions

I don't make New Year's Resolutions. There's no point. Within weeks that budding optimism has gone by the wayside replaced with the old habits. It's the same ole song and dance.

Yet each year we make resolutions. We resolve to lose weight, learn a new language or do any one of a million things to improve ourselves and our lives. Resolutions CAN potentially start us down new paths to new careers or ideals. One idea, one drive, one ambition can lead to sweeping change IF we have the fortitude to stick with those changes.

We can resolve to make a difference, not just in our own lives but the lives of others as well. That may be through charitable donations, the work we do for a cause or it could be as simple as a conversation that leads to new understanding.

I don't believe that people should choose one day a year to make a change. Every day is an opportunity to change, to move forward, to make the life we want not only for ourselves but for the world we want to see for our future. So when I do this, I am, for all intents and purposes, violating my own rule not to make a New Years Resolution.

I am making 2009 my year to make a difference in the LGBT community. I will spend this year and every year hereafter, doing what I can to bring equal rights to my lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered brethren.

No one should have to live as a second class citizen.