continued from page 30 home office, I came across the list a few years after I had made it. I was pleased to see how many I could tick off [clean office wasn’t one of them] and how I had at least made some progress in almost all areas. It turns out that public goal-stating is a good thing. It makes us accountable to do what we tell ourselves we want to do. It makes us more intentional. Most human beings are reactive. We resist change, even when we know it’s good for us. Adults are as stubborn as children, if not more so. To paraphrase my favorite social psychologist (my wife), adults learn nothing they do not wish to learn. I consider myself a private person who rotates between poles of extroversion and introversion. I have learned as an adult that my public expression makes me more productive. So here are three things I want to accomplish in 2019, which I think will make my community a better place. Each is in some way intended as a proactive response to 2018 events.
I Find three ways to contribute to a reduction in domestic violence in our community.
myself and others on what our local elected II Educate officials are doing in our name and with our tax dollars, understanding that budgets are moral documents.
out on a weekly basis with at least one phone III Reach call to a friend to whom I have not spoken in at least a year. This will be an actual call, not an email or text.
None of these commitments is meant to be pathbreaking. I see life at this stage as neither a sprint or a marathon. It is the proverbial journey, and progress is more often incremental than geometric. I’ve made a note to myself to give account at year’s end. I invite you to do the same in your space. Best wishes for a Bountiful 2019! Richard T. Andrews is editor and publisher of The Real Deal Press, a digital weekly reporting on the interplay of race, class and power in the civic, business and cultural spaces in and around Cleveland, Ohio. 32 | CL MAGAZINE