Part of the problem with resolutions is that we all make different ones.
If you're trying to quit smoking, your spouse is trying to lose weight, your teenager is trying to raise his grade point average, and you're all edgy and driving each other crazy, it's no wonder that failure follows.
But what if we all made the same resolution? What might we accomplish then?
What one resolution could we all make? What one goal could we all commit to? How about excellence in our respective vocations?
Let's all commit to being the best whatever we are – the best teacher or student, the best carpenter or mechanic, the best doctor or attorney.
Not only will we be better persons for it, we'll also be role models for our peers, encouraging them to be better, too. And let's stop winking at the more egregious examples of incompetence and dereliction in our colleagues.
Every trade or profession has them – the shady operators and the goldbrickers – but the main reason they get away with the detrimental and demoralizing behavior is because we tolerate it.
Let's start striving for excellence, and bring back shame and ostracism for those who make no effort to achieve it.
Then, maybe people like attorney Steve Mostyn might be inspired to make a contribution to society instead of seeming to look for ways to enrich himself at society's expense.
Maybe the attorneys at Voss and Posey would do the same, instead of “conspir[ing] to collect from the persons they represented in insurance claims related to Hurricane Sandy improper referral fees commonly referred to as fees paid to ‘runners,’” as charged in a class action suit filed against them last month in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Ocean County – Law Division.
We do accused predators no service by pretending to not know what’s going on. Let's resolve to show deserved contempt. It will do some good.