“It is always easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them.”
—Alfred Adler

“Democracy is a slow process of stumbling to the right decision instead of going straight forward to the wrong one.”
—Anonymous

So here we are, only one full day into 2026 and I already feel that I have learned something important. In fact, I will go so far as to say that this is potentially a game-changer. Let me explain.

New Year’s Eve Rebekah and I were invited to celebrate at the home of our good friends Resi and Keith Thomas. They were an integral part of our church community in Wake Forest and have been really great about working to keep our friendship alive. We spent Christmas Eve together in Tarboro (see “Love is the only gift that counts“), and they asked us to join them at their home to see in 2026.

So here is what’s cool. There were somewhere around 25 people at the party. Rebekah and I knew none of the other guests but we circulated around, learned almost all the names, and made some really good connections.

The conversations all ran pretty deep, and we could easily become friends with almost everyone there. What worked was the authentic communication of real human beings – not lining up behind common political slogans or lockstep opinions or anything vaguely tribal. It wasn’t that politics was avoided, just that it simply did not matter.

I believe this is an important observation. Some of the key players in the politics and the culture-wars game work hard to set us against one-another and amplify divisions. But I am convinced these animosities are not only false and contrived, they are fundamentally un-American.

I say this because it is obvious that people who truly value freedom, and unity, and the process that is democracy, do not fight against differences instead they value them and they see where we disagree as illustrative of the intrinsic worth – the corporate strength – of constructive compromise.

Like I said, a house-party full of good people who likely run the gamut of political and social opinion but who are in cordial agreement when it comes to what really matters.

The video, below, is of terrible quality and you can see almost nothing… but it is fun to listen to and it does show Keith’s carefully prepared and genuinely ethereal “Countdown Ball Drop”, and I believe it illustrates that what is really going on is genuine human connection.

And that is what we all need for this coming year – a few more genuine humans in our lives.

So out with the old (those who want to divide, to create hostility and to stir up animus)… and in with the new (the neighbors we need to talk with more, the genuine exchange of views, the respectful disagreements, the common love of liberty, the celebration of freedom, the beauty of the human spirit).

2026: maybe this is the year the pendulum swings back toward good news? There are certainly enough good people – genuine humans – to make it happen – DEREK