Kids think things should be fair. Siblings, especially, are always going to their parents with equity gripes. “She got more” “ You like him better” “Why does she get to stay up later than me?” “How come he gets the last doughnut?”

The sooner you accept that life’s not fair, the easier it is.

Many people are born with tremendous disadvantages—from physical disabilities to impoverished circumstances. Others have horrible bouts of bad luck—from getting hit by drunk drivers to graduating high school amidst a world war or global pandemic.

Not only should you try to appreciate what you do have (because it’s more than a lot of people and it could change at any moment), but you should waste as little time as possible expecting things to be fair. They are not.

However, I believe it’s a worthy (and honestly, patriotic) goal to try improve truly inequitable circumstances for people.

“Liberty and justice for all” is going to take some real effort from all of us in the coming year. Voting is the least you can do! Here’s an organization I work with to increase voter turnout: https://votefwd.org/. We send handwritten letters to people encouraging them to get to the polls. It’s easy and fun to do with other people in groups.