A Time for Reflection

Holidays come at the end of a long year. They are our collective reward for our work and everyday struggles. They’re the balm on our souls after 365 days of hard-fought victories and disappointing losses. I love the holiday season. No matter what you celebrate, or even if you don’t celebrate anything at all, this is a time of year when life slows down. The days are short and the nights with friends and families are beautifully long. And it’s a time of reflection.

The year that was 2023 makes for a fraught time of reflection as these are difficult times. Economically, our nation is on the road to post-pandemic recovery. We’ve had 34 months of job growth with 14 million jobs added since the pandemic’s end. The stock market is breaking records. Gas prices are coming down. The Fed finally announced it will stop raising interest rates. And Social Security recipients are getting a much-needed cost-of-living increase. But paying for groceries, restaurant meals and many other goods is a struggle. Those of us in government know this. And believe me, there is wide consensus about the need to build up and support the middle.

Politics in this country are divisive and divided. Reflecting on not just this year but the last several years, my hope for this new year is that we can set some of that animus aside in 2024 and remember that at the end of the day we mostly want the same things: to be able to go to work, earn a fair wage, put food on our table and a roof over our heads. We want to provide for ourselves and our families and do it with dignity. We want the best for our nation, and for our goals of democracy and freedom to be strengthened. But if we want things to be better, we’re going to have visualize and work toward the change we want to see. And that is what I urge you to reflect on: What change do you want to see in your community and how can your elected leaders help us to live better lives?

Reflect on what needs to happen in 2024 and channel it into energy. Get involved in a campaign. Write letters to your legislators. Be part of the change you seek. There are so many issues, large and small, that we need to tackle in this country. And we can. But we need to work together, collectively, to do it. To succeed, I believe that we, as a community, need to be collaborative, positive and listen and act with empathy.

As you reflect on this year and make your New Year’s resolutions, I hope one of them is to get involved because politics doesn’t have to be ugly or frustrating. If we all turn out and take part, the sky’s the limit for what we can achieve.

Have a happy holiday season and a happy New Year!