We're #1

At the end of each year, I’ve been in the habit of making lists. Good things that have happened for which I’m grateful, and others that, shall we say, need work. It’s different from any list Santa might make, though my guess is his lists are changing as we speak.

So, as we close this year of historic dysfunction and argument, all the while searching for things that can provide some semblance of relief or salvation, here’s my short inventory.

First and foremost, I am, as always, most grateful for my family and the few close friends that sustain and continue to teach me. Lifelong learning is one of the essentials for staying relevant, adaptable, and staving off the pandemic of age-relate decline.

This year, the list of good things is somewhat shorter than in previous years. One reason is that this is the year several people I thought I knew decided they dislike me to an extent usually reserved for long-standing arch enemies. Hatfield-McCoy enemies. I’m talking arch. People who have told me, in no uncertain terms, that I should leave this country because, as they put have put it (in writing) “you obviously hate America …”

I have opined on a few things these people cannot abide, and reminding them of it has infuriated them as nothing else could … the things I wish my country might do better in comparison to 88 other developed nations. This list is a reminder about ‘areas for improvement’ … areas where we are, unfortunately, number one.

• highest spending on medical services while having the worst outcomes

• highest incarceration rates

• greatest number of gun violence deaths

• lowest life expectancy

• highest child poverty rates

• highest obesity rates

• highest maternal and infant mortality rates

• greatest number of drug-related deaths (9 times higher than any of those 88)

• greatest income inequality

• highest indigenous and racial trauma and forced displacement experiences

It’s not a list I like thinking about very much, but also one I cannot ignore, at least in the way my former friends do. They’ve become quite good at that kind of illiteracy. For them, any sense of ‘we’ has been replaced by ‘me’. The Trump trickle-down on display. And such a sad display it is.

There are definitely positive stories happening across the country, from grass-roots efforts for innovation and social justice initiatives to youth-led movements to combat climate issues and promoting sustainable practices and the rights of indigenous people. They’re out there, though too often hard to see.

At the moment, I can only hope that my 2026 list will include more of these. Have to get back to you on that.