Adam WeinsteinNew Year’s resolutions posing as columns always seem a little cheap. They seem even cheaper when they emerge a week into the New Year. But 2014 was tough on Floridians in many respects. The economy swelled, but so did our distractions and our frustrations — with each other and occasionally with ourselves. A better 2015 is worth planning.
So here are my hopes for Florida in the year that lies ahead:
I hope we all can muster some happiness for anyone, straight or gay, who decides to share a lifelong commitment of affection and support with a partner in marriage. It is no simple or easy thing, and it is not done lightly, except with the lightness that abiding love provides.
I hope we exercise our proud privilege to have an open, transparent government that’s accountable to each of us for the work it does. Florida’s reputation for sunshine is enduring, and so is the lobbyists’ and politicos’ search for a little shade to obscure their dealings.
I hope every Floridian gets to the Keys at least once in 2015. If you know someone who can’t afford the trip, bring them along. There aren’t many natural playgrounds in the world worth revering and preserving. Ours is pretty special.
I hope our once-mighty newspapers stay mighty. We have always been the home of the weird, of the Florida Man and Woman. But more than that, we have always nurtured storytellers and town criers, and thrived on their labors.
I hope my fellow Florida State alumni pick themselves up after last week’s tough playoff loss and remember that their identity, their humanity, and their pride depend on so much more than a football team’s win-loss record. Victories are fleeting, but integrity can endure, if we work at it.
I hope we all engage in less angry tweeting, Facebooking, or general ranting about the state of things this year. Political divisions were much more trivial in the Florida of my youth; today, they undermine friendships and families with a troubling regularity. There is no end to the anger people can exhibit when they experience fear and uncertainty. And so we should reassure each other, starting with our supposed political and cultural adversaries, that we are all human — and as capable of love and forgiveness as we are to commit the errors that require forgiveness.
Adam Weinstein is a Tallahassee-based senior writer for Gawker. He has worked for the Wall Street Journal, Village Voice, and Mother Jones. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
