Perhaps 2018 can be when we actually take control

Monday is the first day of 2018, and I for one am very happy for that. Frankly, 2017 has not been a very good year for me in many ways and I can’t wait to see it go bye-bye.

As for 2018, right now I’m a little pessimistic about how good it will be. There are many indicators that seem to foreshadow a year not so different from the one that’s about to exit.

In fact many Americans feel it could be worse, according to various polls. About 73 percent see the world as being more violent in 2018, six in 10 saying race relations are getting worse and about the same believing the country is – once again – headed in the wrong direction.

Sorry to be so glum, but I’m calling it like I see it. Too often we enter the turn of the calendar with high hopes of better things and unattainable goals, only to see them dashed in many cases and go by the wayside in others.

Sure, good things can happen and let’s hope they do.

But in looking forward, I think I’ve come up with a plan of attack to make things better down the road. For starters, don’t count me among the economic stimulators some members of Congress and the individual occupying the White House hope to produce with their tax cuts — extravagant for corporations and the well to do but more modest for the rest of us.

Nope, the future is just too uncertain and it’s being made more so by our leadership. And I’m not alone as, like I said above, about six in 10 Americans don’t feel we’re heading where we should.

If I see any more money in my pocket, it’s going to be applied to three areas.

First, elimination of debt. Pay down, if not off, some credit and once done, don’t use it again.

Second, increase my contribution to my retirement account. As I said above, the future is uncertain and being made more so by leadership so take as much control as you can.

Third, increase my savings account. It pays virtually nothing in interest, but it’s a fall back should something catastrophic happen or should an opportunity arise.

If I do spend anything other than for the essentials of living, it will be to make repairs to my house with the thought of selling it in the future. And whatever I can do myself in that regard, I will do.

It’s probably time a lot of us take similar steps in our lives. We’ve been too much of a consumer society, spending and spending on things we really don’t need.

My parents come from what I will refer to as the “saver generation” and for a good reason. They grew up in the austerity of the Depression and fought a world war, both of which also foretold an uncertain future.

But their frugality, thriftiness and hopes for a better future got them through it, and in the end, helped them prosper. It’s a model I think we should look at again with the thought of implementing somewhat as the New Year looms.

There are many other things in the coming year I hope to accomplish. A return to Guatemala for a sixth time getting high priority. Increasing my charitable contributions, which will likely be needed if some of the predictions about the just passed tax reform bill come to fruition.

If possible, do more volunteer work, which I admit, has lagged recently. And as a somewhat religious person, try harder to practice the kinder, gentler aspects of my faith towards others.

Not easy things to do. It would probably be easier to pledge to lose weight, exercise more and other typical resolutions so often conjured up as the old year ticks down to its demise.

There are those too. But in 2018, perhaps it’s time to realize our future might not be what we hope it to be — and take steps to actually change that.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.