By Kay S. Pedrotti It would take millions to fill all my wishes for 2014 ‘“ millions of people, not dollars ‘“ maybe even billions. Too many times, and yet not enough, in my life I’ve been accused of being the kind of Utopian completely out of touch with reality. My reply is always, ‘Just because we can never achieve those goals does not mean we shouldn’t hope for them and work for them.’ It comes down to each person’s need to try living a life that improves the corner of the world where one is living. Covering all the corners is the problem. All that grand philosophizing recorded, here are my wishes: ’¢ Far less emphasis on material wealth as a measure of success. ’¢ A trustworthy and honest government that adheres to the United States Constitution ‘“ as each leader in our government has already promised. ’¢ A continuing return to common sense about anything and everything. We have so many tails wagging so many dogs right now it isn’t funny. ’¢ World leaders who understand something besides intolerance, violence and oppression. ’¢ A return to individual freedom to choose health care/insurance; medical professional freedom to offer all ‘best practices’ for each patient; education professional freedom to teach healthy, practical, necessary and appropriate curricula to each age group; a tax system that would keep businesses from farming out jobs overseas, forcing out long-term employees to keep from paying pensions, layoffs and reduced hours to prevent providing reasonable (note that word!) benefits to employees; strict scrutiny of government efficiency and spending at all levels and a means to deter fraud and any other pocketpadding and a means of replacing (without pay) those who do wrong; abolition of lobbying; emphasis on prevention of crime rather than punishments that don’t work. Of equal or greater importance than all of the above, in my opinion, is the need for Americans to regain world respect by stopping what has become routine ‘“ judging each other and every other part of the world from a position of ‘I’m better than you.’ To borrow from a man who did live his life in a way that improved not only his corner but an entire nation, I’d have everyone accepted on ‘the content of their character,’ not on color of skin, amount of money in the pocket, where one worships or doesn’t, whether one kills or eats animals, whether one adheres to standards thought to be inherently mandatory for inclusion into the human race …and so much more. Because we aren’t all-powerful, no one can impose all this on anyone else. Nor should we want to ‘“ except that I have the dream that life might be better. Maybe each of us should concentrate more on and with those we believe to be all-powerful. It might work. I’m trying, hoping, praying and even making plans how about you? Kay Pedrotti is a writer and reporter for the Herald Gazette.
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