So, we’re at the end of the year and as usual I am reflecting on what I’ve done. I willingly admit that I, like all of us, am deeply flawed. I mean, since we are human, none of us are infallible. We make mistakes and we fall short although some of us will not lay claim to that.
Instead, we will point out the mistakes and missteps someone else has made in the hopes no one will see our own defects of character. We will look away from the mirror held up to our face so we will not have to own the times we have fallen flat, struggling to regain footing all while hiding the pain we may be in because we have been hurt or worse, caused pain to someone else.
We put on the illusion of perfection because the world demands this of us. It demands it so we can be perceived as strong, tough and able to ride the waves life throws at us no matter how rough the seas may be.
I have an idea of what it’s going to be like as we stand on the precipice of a seismic shift in political and social norms that is all but certain to overtake us. We will see the very worst in folks because we are imperfect. But we will also see the very best in people.
At least this is what I hope and believe with every fiber of my being.
Trying to be the best version of ourselves is what we all should be striving to be. And maybe most of us are. But the road to being the best of us may take longer for some and shorter for others. We can’t judge someone else’s journey. We only hope that they will reach the destination of being someone that can live harmoniously with others and the universe in kind as it was meant to be.
Many are of the mindset that it’s going to be bad for some. And no doubt it will be. But as Harriet Tubman led slaves to freedom, there will be those willing to stand up and love their neighbor as themselves, leading them to emotional, mental and physical safety.
This is not to denigrate anyone, especially those that we can be perceived as bad because we cannot walk in anyone else’s shoes besides our own. Everyone’s life journey is deeply personal. We can only hope they reach the destination of peace, love and understanding…or at least enough of us so that we can coincide in the same space without fear, trepidation and suspicion.
But we have become a nation that is obsessed with power, money, possessions and physical beauty…all things that can be taken away in the blink of an eye. We have willingly exchanged humility for arrogance, generosity for greed, and empathy for indifference. We are consumed with having more at anyone’s expense and the most important thing to us is our personal bottom line and to be damned with how that may adversely impact someone else.
But while we cannot be perfect, we can be better…but to be better we must first acknowledge our imperfections because it is only in doing that will we be able to see where we are flawed so that we can fix the proverbial problem. This is not to say that we will be perfect because perfection is not the end game. The journey is just in being better.
So, here’s to being better in 2025.
~ J.L. Whitehead
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