Here’s a wish list for the new year...

Written by Bob Woelk Tuesday, 12 January 2010 19:45

January is traditionally the time to look ahead, to seek the potential in the new year. It is a time to think about what we might witness in the coming months. It is also a time to hope for better days. To that end, I have put together a wish list for 2010.

First, I would love for the people of this nation to someday use the words “Kansas” and “innovation” in the same sentence. I dream that our state will break the bonds of mediocrity and set the pace for the rest of America instead of following the leads of other forward-thinking states.

I would particularly love to see us set the standard in education funding in the next year. Let’s think outside the box and outside political party lines to solve this budget mess we are in.

I desire a world in which TV shows would stop referring to back-to-back-to-back episodes that continue all day as “marathons.” There are people around here, myself included, who have completed true marathons. Those endurance tests are nothing like the brain death that occurs from watching 24 straight hours of “The Deadliest Catch.”

I wish people would learn it is not necessary to warm up a car for 30 minutes early each morning. A couple of minutes at the most would suffice. There is no advantage to be gained beyond that. And, by the way, the car I’m thinking of definitely could use a new exhaust system.

In my most optimistic moments, I hope for a future in which airport security does not have to frisk all passengers. Unfortunately, at some point, a terrorist will likely succeed in doing more damage than just setting his tighty-whiteys on fire.

Though air travel is a calculated risk, it is still statistically far safer than hitting the road. Am I willing to put up with a full body scan in the name of safety? You betcha, as long as my image doesn’t show up on the Internet.

I long for a change in our health-care system. Like it or not, a bill will pass in the next couple of months. Unfortunately, it will be so watered down that it will bring no significant change. Besides, our forward thinking state will likely opt out of the most important portions of the legislation.

In the new year and those that follow, I propose a complete ban on the use of the suffix “gate” as it pertains to any scandal.

I plead with people to stop listening to and reporting the words of Dick Cheney, who has nothing positive to say about anything. I honestly feel sorry for the guy. I just look at his face and see an angry old man. He is the elderly poster child for what is wrong with national politics. Any idea one party comes up with, good or bad, is immediately shot down by the other. How is this good for any of us?

I also want senators and representatives to stop saying “the American people” this and “the American people” that as if they have a clue what we are thinking.

I would love to see a law requiring gas stations to just as quickly lower prices at the pumps when the cost of a barrel of oil goes down as they raise prices when the cost goes up.

Do the companies think we don’t notice how much slower the drop is than the climb? More likely, they just know there is nothing we can do about it.

Unfortunately, they are right.

My hope for the new decade is that farmers will be able to make some money, jobs will once again become plentiful and manufacturers will finally realize that outsourcing is a bad idea.

I pray that American Christians will put their beliefs into practice rather than just give them lip service.

I look to parents to take back their roles as heads of the household rather than as friends and enablers of their children, who, quite honestly, should not be given everything they want when they want it.

I challenge us to occasionally put down the cell phones and communicate with each other face to face.

Mostly, I desire for all of us to have the kind of year that keeps us from becoming cranky old codgers like our former vice-president.