Resolution #1: Be kind above all else

Some people discount News Year's resolutions on the grounds that so often, they are not kept. How many of us, after all, vow to lose a few pounds at the beginning of the year and then finish that year heavier, not lighter?

We believe in them, however, despite setbacks like that. Clearly, New Year's resolutions are not guarantees of success. But they are a goal, and without a goal as so much of life illustrates, success is unattainable.

In the next several days, we'll outline our resolutions for 2011. A few are the Daily Herald's personal goals: We vow first to put all of our efforts into sparking the suburban conversation. And we also vow to look out for your interests.

These objectives are a significant part of the obligation we as a newspaper company have to you and to the community at large, and we intend to make every effort to meet those obligations.

But some of these resolutions really are goals for the suburbs. We will monitor the suburbs' progress on them and report on what it is that we find, but all the same, the results will not be our doing; they will be dependent on what people outside the newspaper accomplish.

We begin today with our first resolution, and this one isn't just for you and it isn't just for us. It is for you, and us, and to everyone you and we know:

Be kind above all else. Give yourself to a spirit of giving, expecting nothing in return.

Albert Schweitzer, the 20th century French philosopher and physician said it well:

“You must give some time to your fellow man. Even if it's a little thing, do something for others — something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it.”

What a fabulous sentiment!

And what a better community we would build if we honored that advice, what a better world we'd all live in if those are the words that would underscore our lives.

Mother Teresa said it even better, in words etched into our consciousness. We've tried to advance her philosophy since the day we first were humbled by them:

“People are often unreasonable and self-centered; forgive them anyway.

“If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives; be kind anyway.

“If you are honest, people may cheat you; be honest anyway.

“If you find happiness, people may be jealous; be happy anyway.

“The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow; do good anyway.

“Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; give your best anyway.

“For you see, in the end, it is between you and God; it was never between you and them anyway.”