Can we be kind this year?

"Of each other, we should be kind / While there is still time." That's what Philip Larkin wrote in one of his most memorable poems, "The Mower".

I was reminded of Larkin last week, when people were talking about their New Year's resolutions. Why do we keep making such hopeless ones? I mean, does anyone seriously think that a person is going to stick to the Atkins diet when it's snowing outside and there's a big piece of cake on table? Of course not. And who is going to keep jogging every morning when it's dark and wet? Not me.

For a change, let's make resolutions that matter. I'm thinking here of something as simple as a daily act of kindness. Like air and water, like warmth and food, like rest and exercise, kindness is essential for human life. And our troubled world needs it more than ever now.

"Of each other, we should be kind / While there is still time."
— "The Mower", Philip Larkin (1922-1985)