Dear 2016,
I hope this finds you well rested. It's been a wild ride in 2015 and I know you must be exhausted.
You've seen war and wacky weather and warped world views.
You've seen great suffering, from refugees fleeing homes that are no longer safe to a dog getting its mouth taped shut.
You've seen a woman with a big butt and a man with bad hair dominate every day conversation.
You've seen mothers weeping with the worst kind of sorrow because police shot and killed their sons.
You've seen religion held up as a torch while its flames burned those under it who weren't white enough, Christian enough, Muslim enough, Jewish enough, rich enough, straight enough, male enough, conservative enough, devout enough, loud enough, quiet enough.
You've endured the social media chatter. Of. So. Many. Morons.
I'm writing to remind you of the past so I can share my wishes for how I want you to be different, better, because I believe your 365 days can shine brighter than you ever have before.
Please open your arms to a better world. Stop the careless practices that are destroying the planet and the beings that inhabit it. Stop torturing animals as we prepare them for food and injecting them with chemicals that harm our children and our children's children to come.
2016, let this be when we remember that we all came from the same ilk, that the color of our skin or the language that we speak or the street on which we live does not serve as justification to build walls and borders and turn our backs on one another.
May this be the time we put down our arms of the deadly sort and hold out our arms of the embracing kind.
And stop taking without giving.
Like a man who finally realizes he can sleep better at night when he stops cheating on his wife and stealing from his boss, let us all breathe a collective sigh of relief because you've deemed hate is no longer perpetrated in our name.
Help us no longer care only about our own backyard because we finally realize our property is connected to our neighbor's and when bad seeds blow, they litter both our yards. Help us no longer care about only our children because when we pollute the air, all our children choke. Help us no longer care only about padding our pockets because our wealth will be worthless when there is no one left to share a beer with.
Help us no longer care about electing the guy who sounds most like the average American and will instead raise up the woman. Because. It's. Way. Overdue. For. Us. To. Raise. Up. A. Woman.
Dearest 2016, please gather the strength you need in the remaining hours of 2015 so that you can burst into the scene on January 1 and start making us proud.
If your 12 months breed kindness and compassion rather than fear and greed, we will ensure that your successors will follow.
You have the power to be a better you. The world is counting on it.
