Editor's Page--Volume 85, Number 1.

• Author: Smith, Michael Franklin

It's a new year. And with every new year comes the promise of a new beginning. They tell us to forget the failures of yesterday and focus on the fresh opportunities that the new beginning provides. That's a little too Pollyanna for my taste. I prefer to do a little honest soul searching.

Did you make any New Year's resolutions?

I did. As I closed out 2017 and celebrated the arrival of 2018, I reflected, like I always do, on the good and bad of the recent past. I pondered the state of the world we live in today. While there is a lot of good in this world, I still see too much divisiveness, discrimination, fighting, suffering, disparity, and sorrow for my taste. After reflection, I resolved to ask myself each morning what I can do today to make the world a better place for someone else.

Two days ago I anonymously paid for a stranger's breakfast at my local coffee shop I frequent on my way to the office. It was a little thing that didn't cost me much money. However, I think that small gesture made the world a better place in a small way for at least one person in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Yesterday, I funded a microloan to help a single mother of two in Bomet, Kenya purchase cereals to sell in the local market. It was more than a breakfast but it was still a small gesture in the grand scheme of things. Yet, I know that that action made the world a better place for at least three people in Bomet, Kenya.

Today, I made a modest donation to an organization that helps fund and promote minority candidates running for a variety of political offices in all types of elections across the United States. I believe that diversity in leadership provides new voices with unique perspectives that help create an affirming environment for all kinds of minorities. Today, I feel that I made the world a better place for some unknowable amount of people in the United States.

These may appear to be selfless acts, but they are done for selfish reasons. Do good; feel good. Sure, there's that. But there's more to it than just that for me. I embrace the selfishness of my apparently selfless actions as I firmly believe that making the world a better place for someone else, makes the...