|  Resolutions for a Better America
Although you can't single-handedly put an end to political strife or world hunger, you can still make a difference. Find out what small actions you can take to create a big impact.
By Jacob Young
From Reader's Digest
January 2005
All the red-state, blue-state, I-hate-you-state nonsense can be a bit too much. So much of it is about blaming the other guy -- for the war in Iraq, for high taxes, for big deficits, for being soft on sin, whatever your definition of sin happens to be. Can we just try to move on? Because really, what this country needs is a little less finger-pointing and a lot more personal responsibility. In that spirit, Reader's Digest offers its list of New Year's resolutions for America. None of these will change the world, but they will help make it a better place to live.
Give it up. If you're like most of us, your home is stuffed with stuff. We're asking you to give it away. Not all of it. Not even the best of it. But think of all the perfectly fine, maybe even unused items you have gathering dust. Think of the difference one of them could make to someone else.
Michael Caswell did: A schoolboy soccer player in Pasadena, California, each season he and all his teammates got new gear. Uniforms, cleats, everything. The old gear got chucked to the back of the closet. At some point, Mike wondered, What if we collect all this soccer stuff and give it away? With the help of his mom, Noli, he passed around flyers asking players to donate. He soon had bales of great used gear. Entire teams brought their not-so-old uniforms, and often a slightly worn ball or two. Working with church groups and the American Youth Soccer Organization, Mike sent this bounty to missionaries, mostly in the developing world. Now, soccer-mad kids who barely had clothes to wear have uniforms that match.
But you don't need to get that involved to do a good deed. Do you have an old computer to dispose of? Contact the National Cristina Foundation (cristina.org) or World Computer Exchange (worldcomputerexchange.org). You may get a tax write-off; someone who needs it gets your old machine. Still have materials from that remodeling project? Habitat for Humanity will look it over and either use it in one of their projects or sell it in one of their 300 ReStores. (Again, you get a tax deduction.) Old cell phone? The Wireless Foundation distributes phones to victims of domestic violence (calltoprotect.org). More than six million pairs of eyeglasses get "retired" in the United States each year. Take them out of the drawer and give them to charity. Someone, somewhere, will use them. Used sneakers too cruddy even for the Goodwill? Nike will grind them up and use them to resurface ball courts, tracks and athletic fields (nikereuseashoe.com).
These are just some of the more creative ideas we've seen. Your church, synagogue, mosque or community center will have others. Look at what you've got; then make a call. And remember: It really is more blessed to give than to receive.
Drop it off. What if you -- yes, you, flopped there on the couch -- could take a stand to lower the national bill for health care, spur an initiative to cut the cost of medical insurance, and be a player in the campaign to fight diabetes, heart disease and cancer? Well, you can. Just lose 10 pounds this year. Don't think of it as dieting -- think of it as an act of personal medical responsibility.
Here's why: When you hear someone on the news talking about skyrocketing costs of health care and insurance, it isn't some vague "they" who's responsible. To quote Pogo, we have met the enemy and he is us. Heavy us, pudgy us, fat, flabby us. We're responsible. In 1991 only four states reported obesity rates of 15 percent or higher. Today 31 do, including three with, incredibly, 25 percent or more obese residents. Obesity can lead to dozens of health problems, and the costs are staggering. In California, $7.7 billion. In Texas, $5.3 billion. Nearly $50 billion a year for the country as a whole, according to the Centers for Disease Control. That's not "their" money, it's our money. And this doesn't even begin to count the cost of lives cut short because of the related problems of obesity.
We're not trying to demonize food; we eat every day too. But this is one problem that comes down to personal choice. There's not likely to be a regulatory, or, God forbid, legislative answer. The simple truth is that the good times -- way too much food and not nearly enough sweat -- are killing us.
C'mon, drop that 10 pounds. For all our sakes.
Trade up. We used to call it voc-ed. It was where we dumped the "losers" -- the kids you found outside, having a smoke behind the bleachers.
No more. Although it has come a long way since it was "shop class," career and technical education (CTE) needs new attention if the United States is going to maintain its place in the world. Two of our biggest competitors, China and India, now train hundreds of thousands of workers with practical and technical skills each year. We still have an edge when it comes to advanced science, but we need to make sure we have the best, most skilled workers. It's the responsible thing to do.
Truth is, a four-year bachelor's degree isn't for everyone, nor should it be. But there's still a perception that CTE is for entry-level, dead-end jobs. That's just wrong: Engineering technology, business and health are consistently at the top of the list of associate's degrees earned by CTE students. And the money's good. A few years back, a worker with a bachelor's degree earned a median salary of $686 per week, while the average worker with an associate's degree made $639, only a $50 difference.
Plus, the need for critical CTE-trained jobs is deep and wide. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the occupation with the largest predicted number of new workers in the next decade will be registered nurses -- many of whom earn associate's degrees or specialized technical certificates.
What's not growing, predictably, is funding for CTE. The Perkins Vocational and Technical Act is the key piece of federal financial-aid legislation for CTE students. While enrollment in U.S. community colleges, now 6.5 million, has grown 20 percent over the past 3 years, Perkins grants have not kept pace. For 2005, Perkins aid is slated to increase by less than 2 percent, leaving many prospective CTE students high and dry. Last year Florida had to turn away 35,000 applicants because of inadequate funding. When you consider that someone with an associate's degree earns $16,000 more annually than a high school graduate, that's a $560 million loss to Florida's economy. Who can afford that?
Clean it up. It was once quaintly known as TV's "Family Hour." Between 8 and 9 p.m., you could count on relatively safe fare -- a fluffy comedy, maybe a game show and, if you really got lucky, a program from which you and your kids could learn something. At the very least, you could all watch and no one would be embarrassed or bewildered, except maybe at how dumb sitcoms could be.
Like the saying goes, those were the days.
Just try finding the family hour in 2005. Even in the early evening, the dial is clogged with violent reality shows, exploitative dramas aimed at teenagers, and comedy shows so thick with sexual double entendres that, take it from us, grown men blush. And once 9 p.m. hits -- wow. At the stroke of the hour recently, one character called another a "douche bag." Can you say that on network TV? Apparently so.
We could write a whole article about how the FCC fails to regulate standards on broadcast television and how more people need to speak up for cleaner, less commercial TV fare (and we will, next month).
For now, we've got one other thought. Please turn the TV off during dinner. The Kaiser Family Foundation recently reported that the typical American child spends more than three hours a day watching TV, and an amazing six out of ten of those kids usually watch and eat dinner at the same time. The Wall Street Journal has reported that kids -- and parents -- consume more calories while sitting in front of the tube, probably because they're just not paying attention to how much they're eating. It's your family. It's your TV -- shut it off. Try reviving the art of conversation. You just might learn something.
Stand up -- and speak out. Let's vow to stop scandals before they destroy the reputation of American big business. If you're like 74 percent of Americans, you'd agree that "you can't be too careful" when dealing with corporations. Just look at the evidence: The feds finally started convicting some of the Enron fraudsters in 2004, but that's cold comfort to millions of investors. They lost a collective $63 billion -- while Enron execs made off with millions -- when the company tanked.
As last year drew to a close, there was more dismal news about fraud or cover-ups or both in the insurance industry, pharmaceuticals and even newspaper circulation figures.
Wait a second, though. How many people worked at Enron? More than 20,000 when the company was flying high. How come more people didn't speak up, didn't say, "Guys, this is wrong"? Admittedly, this is a tricky subject, because whistle-blowers sometimes find themselves fired, with no paycheck, no health insurance and no prospects. We don't mean to blame the victims; Enron's employees lost big. Yet at the same time, "business" is made up of millions of individual employees, most of whom can distinguish right from wrong. What can we do to put some ethics back into corporate America?
One of the smartest people we know on this topic is Peter G. Peterson, a straight-talking financier and former Federal Reserve banker. His 2004 book, Running on Empty, is a no-nonsense look at the American economy that ought to be required reading. In a recent report for The Conference Board, Peterson wrote about his conster
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