My new year’s resolution isn’t something for myself, it’s something for the world.  I have decided to focus on trying to do 1 good thing a day for someone else - that means doing something outside of my normal scope of work and life. A few examples of things I’ve done thus far:

• Help a woman by herself with a stroller down a set of stairs (with one injured hand)
• Direct a couple who were looking for each other but we just standing where they were waiting for the other party.  It was pretty obvious because it was a foreign couple (probably tourists) who were only standing 10 meters apart in a shopping mall - but because line of sight, they couldn’t see each other

The reason I say got beyond my normal scope is because it’s not something I would jump to right away.  With the woman and the stroller, I hesitated because of my recovering hand injury - but it’s healed enough that I figured it would be OK.  And with the couple, I passed them by a few times before making the connection and then hesitated about being so out there, but ultimately decided screw sensibility.  Stuff that comes second nature to me like holding the door behind me doesn’t count (although technically it could because of all the non-door holders in Hong Kong).

So the basic concept is to do something that I would otherwise hesitate on.  That’s fine to hesitate, but then I should still turn around and do it.  Better late than never.  The one thing I definitely hesitate on and probably won’t cross the line is money donations.  There are simply WAY too many charities in Hong Kong and WAY too many volunteers who are asking you for money.  I know, the $1-2 dollars isn’t a big dent to my savings, but I’d rather donate in a lump sum to an organization that I feel strongly for and believe in. 

It’s probably not a big resolution, but I once read somewhere that we are all connected and the slightest change or movement in any equilibrium can potentially lead to greater things.  It’s called the butterfly effect.  A butterfly can flap its wings and the eddies in the air, which interact with its environment, can turn into a great hurricane or typhoon half way around the world.  Of course, I apply this effect in positive light - but you never know right?  And plus, it’s karma and like I alway say - what goes around comes around.

What’s your new year’s resolution?  It’s only been 22 days into 365, so we’re still only 6% into the year.