What I Want for 2012.

If I had the power to create exactly what I want for 2012, I would like to see politicians, corporate executives, and others in positions of power and influence follow their conscience and not their lust for power or their wallets.

I would like to see environmentalists actually giving a shit about the environment by not supporting the very industry with the largest carbon footprint. If you are eating factory-farmed meat, fish, eggs, or dairy, you are not an environmentalist. Period.

I would like to see elephants roaming wild, not prodded by bull hooks, whipped with chains, beaten into unnatural positions, and forced to perform for our “amusement.”

I would like to see whales swimming in the ocean, peaceful, and singing, without murderous hunters chasing them with torpedo boats, trying to kill them by the thousands so some Japanese man can get an erection.

I would like to see horses running wild across the plains, not cooped up in a stall no bigger than they are, pregnant, hooked up to machines extracting their urine for a drug called Premarin, or rounded up by helicopter, exhausted and scared, and exported to Canada or Mexico for slaughter, or confined to a carriage 16 hours a day in freezing winter or scorching summer, worked until they collapse.

I would like to see less religious zealotry in politics, the judicial system, and the public arena. Antiquated ideas about morality, especially from a book filled with genocide, subrogation of women, infanticide, slavery, rape, incest, murder, intolerance, and animal sacrifice, need to be replaced with reason, critical thinking, and empathy. Isn’t it time we evolved past bigotry, sexual discrimination, women subservient to men, false piety, religious litmus tests, and hatred? Are 2,000 year old ideas really how we want to decide our future?

I would like to see more compassion. Compassion for each other, the planet, and the animals. As long as we continue to take life, from capital punishment to what’s on our dinner plate, from hunting animals into extinction like the Black Rhino, or continuing to overpopulate the planet, we are surely devising our own ultimate extinction as we destroy the climate and use up what is left of our resources.

I would like to see rabbits, foxes, leopards, and minks allowed to wear their own fur, to not be anally electrocuted and skinned alive for ridiculous Haute Couture. Faux is fab!

I would like to see companies stop poisoning, blinding, and killing hundreds of thousands of dogs, cats, primates, mice, rats, pigs, and rabbits in order to test out their oven cleaners, mascaras, dish soap, detergents, and other toxic chemicals. I would like to see companies stop forcing chimps to inhale toxic fumes, force-feeding dogs pesticides, and rubbing corrosive chemicals into the eyes of rabbits.

I would like to see more responsible pet ownership and less backyard breeding, abuse, and neglect, leading to the euthanasia of over 4 million shelter animals.

I would like to see fewer people with hands clasped in fruitless prayer, or reaching for a hand out, or raised in anger against their neighbor, and instead working with those hands to make this a better world for all.

I would like to see less superstition and more reason. The sooner we stop looking to something mystical to save us and start looking to ourselves for the solution, the better off we will be.

I would like to see fewer reality shows showing women as mindless media whores or baby-making machines and instead encourage girls to be strong, independent, curious, contrary, and fierce; to stand on their own two feet and to reach for the stars.

I would like to see fathers encouraging their daughters to be confident, to build up their self-esteem, and remind them that it’s okay to be smart and strong and that a man does not make her worthy; that her worth is already inside her.

I would like to be confident enough to let it all hang out and stop worrying about the number on the scale, counting calories, and thinking no one will love me unless I’m skinny.

I would like to figure out the next chapter of my life – to find my purpose – and pursue it with passion and certitude instead of floundering and feeling lost.

I would like to take more risks, to not be afraid to try something completely unorthodox, even if I fail at it.

I would like to stop worrying that I have squandered my potential and wasted 20 years of my life.

I would like to stop feeling “less than” and start feeling “good enough.”

I would like more people to turn their headlights on in the fog and rain (What? Did you think they’d all be Earth-shatteringly important?).

I would like to be less jaded about the future of our country, the level of incivility in politics, the educational system’s apparent lack of actual education, and people in general. 

These are some of the things that I would like to see happen in 2012. I may want more next year.