EDITORIAL: New Year's resolutions (01/14/01)

EDITORIAL

New Year's resolutions

"The future is not a gift - it is an achievement." - Sir Harry Lauder.

Let's face it, most Ukrainians have not even made New Year's resolutions, yet. After all, it's Malanka season ... Perhaps when we're done celebrating the New Year according to all our calendars we can get down to the business of taking stock of where we are and charting a course for the future.

The year 2001, the true beginning of the new millennium and a somewhat mythical figure in and of itself, presents a good opportunity for such undertakings - and for the adoption of resolutions aimed at guiding our lives and our activities.

As 2001 begins, Ukraine is entering the millennium as an independent state. Indeed, it will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of its independence - something that many commentators had predicted would be short-lived. But is it lagging behind in terms of real reform: political, economic and social? Is the country where it should be after nearly a decade of independence?

Our communities in the diaspora, meanwhile, continue to exist and are examining the nature of that existence in view of the new realities that have arisen in the wake of Ukraine's independent statehood. In fact, since about 1995 the topic that has been addressed at myriad conferences and conventions in North America has been, to paraphrase it in shorthand form: "Where do we go from here?"

With the aforementioned in mind, therefore, we present The Weekly's suggested resolutions for our leaders, community members and, yes, ourselves.

For the president of Ukraine: to start acting like the leader his nation deserves; to stop looking over his shoulder at Russia.

For the government of Ukraine: to get serious about combating corruption; to crack down on traffickers of Ukraine's citizens.

For Ukraine's law enforcement bodies: to get real about law enforcement.

For the Verkhovna Rada: to stop acting like a gathering of warring clans and start acting like the Parliament of a major European state.

For our community leaders in the diaspora: to put pragmatism before partisanship; to care more about unity and the common good than about power and egos.

For individual community members: to finally acknowledge that they are no longer émigrés and to become part of the society at large in the countries where they reside - most importantly in the political arena; to stop thinking only in terms of anniversaries and instead look to the future, taking the first step toward building a better tomorrow; to appreciate what our community has to offer (to stop thinking of things Ukrainian as second-rate) and to work to make it better.

And, for ourselves at The Weekly, we resolve: to refocus on our primary job, that is, informing our readers about the most significant developments in Ukraine, the United States and Canada, and throughout the diaspora; to establish more contacts with our local communities and its members; and to serve as a forum for the expression of diverse views held by our community's members.

In short, to borrow a phrase from the theme of a recent Leadership Conference sponsored by The Washington Group: "We Can Do Better" - all of us. So, let's just do it.

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