Hello 2017: You have to be better than 2016
It's opening day. Yep, the first day of a new year.
Like baseball, it's full of hopes and dreams. We haven't been beat down...at least not yet. FTW!! Our magic number is 365.
For most people that I know, 2016 sucked. No way around that. Full of deaths and political disappointment.
I don't know if everyone is hopeful about 2017, but it's a chance to start with a clean slate. A chance to start fresh and make some good things happen. If you can't be positive on the first day of a new year, when can you be?
Thursday night I was with my writing students at the homeless shelter. The topic was what are your goals for 2017. Everyone looked forward to new housing, being with family, and good things for themselves and their friends . No one was down. No one was depressed. No one was beat up. All of them were looking ahead. All of them were looking for a better life.
If people who are going through the worst times of their lives can be like that, then I'm not ready to give up on the new year. C'mon, we're only a few minutes into 2017, how bad can it be?
So Happy 2017. As the band Chicago once said, "It's only the beginning. Only just the start."