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{"source_url": "https://web.archive.org", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20210823072056id_/https://www.theledger.com/opinion/20200101/our-view-see-our-world-more-clearly-in-2020?rssfeed=true", "title": "Our View: See our world more clearly in 2020", "top_image": "https://www.theledger.com/storyimage/LK/20200101/OPINION/200109985/AR/0/AR-200109985.jpg", "meta_img": "https://www.theledger.com/storyimage/LK/20200101/OPINION/200109985/AR/0/AR-200109985.jpg", "images": ["https://www.theledger.com/Global/images/head/nameplate/theledger_logo.png", "https://b.scorecardresearch.com/p?c1=2&c2=9289482&cv=2.0&cj=1", "https://www.theledger.com/storyimage/LK/20200101/OPINION/200109985/AR/0/AR-200109985.jpg&MaxH=200&MaxW=200", "https://www.theledger.com/storyimage/LK/20200101/OPINION/200109985/AR/0/AR-200109985.jpg"], "movies": [], "text": "Most promises to ourselves evaporate or are junked before the first month is over. Still, committing ourselves to personal renewal and self-improvement is important.\n\nHappy New Year everyone. As the calendar rolls over once again, we want to wish all of Polk County, our state and our nation a healthy, safe and prosperous 2020.\n\nUnder the ancient Roman calendar January became the first month of the year about 150 years before the birth of Christ, at the latest. Many scholars believe the Romans named this month for their god Janus, and fittingly so. Janus was considered the god of new beginnings or transitions, and in Roman art he is depicted with two faces - one that looks forward and one that looks back. Janus, renowned as a spiritual gatekeeper, was also viewed as the god of doors, since a door is two thins simultaneously - an entrance and an exit.\n\nIn that spirit today, many of us, as we are wont to do each Jan. 1, take stock of the past year and vow - or resolve - to change or improve our lives and circumstances in the coming year. In other words, in Janus style, we look back and then look forward - often with much hope, excitement and fortitude.\n\nOf course, most of these promises to ourselves have evaporated or are junked before the first month is even over. Still, the idea that we commit ourselves to some personal renewal and aim for self-improvement is important.\n\nIn a larger sense, many of us mistakenly believe that more government is the answer to making life better. Those in this camp believe the world will improve only if they can impose their will and way of thinking on others via mandates from bureaucrats. Yet the reality is that the world will not become a kinder, gentler place unless each of us pledges to do our part to make it so. The lyrics of a short hymn that songwriters Sy Miller and Jill Jackson-Miller penned 65 years ago for a religious retreat for teenagers speaks to this: \u201cLet there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me. ... Let this be my solemn vow: To take each moment, and live each moment, in peace eternally.\u201d\n\nWe know this will be difficult in a sharply divided country where politics has come to play an outsized role in our daily existence. But it\u2019s still worth trying.\n\nOne way we can do that is to eschew the negatives.\n\nYes, during 2019, we saw murder, mayhem, misery, malfeasance and maltreatment - both here at home and throughout the world.\n\nAll around us self-appointed town criers articulate doom and gloom - most often, per their telling, in the form of climate change, gun violence, economic collapse, or outright brutishness.\n\nBut dour outlooks have always been with us, and it will remain so in the future. Thus, the naysayers are a distraction from the truth - and while we\u2019re not saying ignore them altogether, at least take their gripes with many grains of salt.\n\nWe here in Polk County, and throughout America, live in the freest, wealthiest, most powerful, most privileged nation on Earth. It is a result of a blessing from above, hard work, our military strength and a commitment to hewing as closely as possible to the vision of those who founded our country. No other generation of young people in history has known the prosperity, security and safety that young Americans know today.\n\nThat doesn\u2019t make us perfect, but it is odd how those among us who begrudge our nation and its lifestyle never want to leave and even seek to throw open our doors to the rest of the world.\n\nThe past is unchangeable, the future unknowable. Yet, while it\u2019s corny, hopefully in 2020 we can see more clearly how to shape our lives and attitudes to meet the new possibilities that each new day brings - starting today. Happy New Year.", "keywords": [], "meta_keywords": [""], "tags": [], "authors": ["The Ledger Editorial Board"], "publish_date": "Wed Jan 1 00:00:00 2020", "summary": "", "article_html": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_lang": "en", "meta_favicon": "https://www.theledger.com/Global/images/favicons/theledger_favicon.ico", "meta_data": {"viewport": "width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0", "og": {"site_name": "The Ledger", "title": "Our View: See our world more clearly in 2020", "description": "Most promises to ourselves evaporate or are junked before the first month is over. Still, committing ourselves to personal renewal and self-improvement is", "image": {"identifier": "https://www.theledger.com/storyimage/LK/20200101/OPINION/200109985/AR/0/AR-200109985.jpg", "width": 1920, "height": 1344}, "type": "article"}, "msvalidate.01": "7E15F9269E2CE66F2A488ABB04B5015E", "apple-itunes-app": "app-id=419611683?at=1000lkC&ct=sb-theledger", "google-play-app": "app-id=com.gatehousemedia.id3154", "bt": {"pubDate": "20200101T00:07:22Z", "modDate": "20200101T00:07:00Z", "keywords": "new-year-2020", "author": "The Ledger Editorial Board"}, "twitter": {"title": "Our View: See our world more clearly in 2020", "description": "Most promises to ourselves evaporate or are junked before the first month is over. 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