2011 - It Gets Better!

Welcome to the new year!  2011 is officially off and running. Somehow 2011 sounds much more futuristic than the first decade of the 2000s - legitimately 21st century.  Something about fewer zeros in the number make me ready to start seeing some Jetson's action (my new Roomba robot vacuum cleaner is VERY Jetson's - my own Rosie!  More about that in a future post).

I'm always in a little bit of a daze when the routine kicks back in after the holidays.  I think most of us feel a mixture of relief that the craziness is over and melancholy to see the  festivity of the holidays behind us with nothing but cold and taxes on the horizon.  The thought that propels us through these short, dark, cheerless, broke, first days of the year is, to borrow a popular phrase from 2010, "It gets better"...

A few months back, I ordered a T-shirt from the "It Gets Better" project.  I was so wowed by the endless stream of heartfelt, sincere, messages from people of ALL walks of life - famous, ordinary, tough, meek, powerful, humble, nerdy, cool - who contributed their accounts or perspectives on the trials and isolation of growing up as a LBGT youth.  The campaign was one of those simple but profound ideas, empowered by social networking and technology, that I believe did and is doing more to advance the rights, respect, and tolerance for the LBGT community than anything I've seen.  Truly remarkable and moving.  That and the fall of Don't Ask Don't Tell were overdue gifts for our LBGT brothers and sisters in the past year.  Still work to do on full civil union/marriage rights for same sex couples (I don't care what you call it...).

Anyway, back in the fall, I decided to show my support through a donation/purchase of a T-shirt from the It Gets Better project website.  The T-shirts were in such demand that I just received mine last week, and it's my new favorite shirt for the new year.  I don't quite have the chest to fill out the web address, but the link is above.

The message is relevant to any crisis that people might be experiencing, or just to the month of January.  No matter how bad it might seem, it does get better.  The seasons are a terrific metaphor for the ups and downs of life.  The key is to keep putting one foot in front of the other through the tough times, safe in the knowledge that you are not alone and something better is in store if you just trudge on.  We all have to know that often it's that miserable stuff that makes us stronger, better people.

So, to start the new year - here, in no particular order, is my list of things that I hope "get better" in 2011:

• The economy
• My heel
• The CSC covenant document
• Laika's hips
• Haiti
• My cooking
• The Gulf
• River Bay Roadhouse
• Congress/government
• My son's soccer team
• Pakistan
• Afghanistan
• Africa
• America
• The environment
• The Redskins
• Lindsay Lohan (just because I'm tired of hearing about her)
• The Chesapeake
• Race/Intercultural relations - general intolerance and close-mindedness
• Airport security/safety
• School lunches
• The housing market
• My organizational skills
• Kyrie Irving's big toe
• My memory
• Superfresh
• Attention spans/focus
• The Graul's shopping center intersection
• Perspective
• Manners

That's all that comes to mind readily.  How about all of you? What do you wish to "get better" in 2011?  Anything from Cape pet peeves to world peace?  I know I've missed a lot, so help me out.  Wishing you all better days and happiness in 2011!

PS - In the interest of making the Cape Blogger better in 2011, I've increased the font size of the blog posts.  I don't know about you, but I was having trouble reading the small print. Let me know if there are other things I can improve or that bug you about the blog (other than generally hating the content.  It's a blog - I calls them like I sees them).

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