Robert Redford

Like many of you, I find myself reflecting and looking ahead to a new year, with both optimism and a sense of trepidation.

I’m hoping it will bring positive changes: a return to democratic values, more justice for all, less divisions and anger, and a renewed consciousness for our civic duty to protect the environment we all depend on, no matter which political party we align with.

I’m also looking back a bit (something I don’t allow myself to do too often). I’m trying to examine and understand how we’ve gotten to this place, how we have entrusted our future to those who seem so disconnected from the America I know.

As a country, I think we’ve slid backward—and this has to change. We have to change. All of us have a part to play in bringing the country together again. I trust we all want progress, not bitterness, moving forward.

I’m energized by new voices of youth and women in power. They are playing a role in sweeping the stage—their emerging leadership can lead the way and I’ve seen the promise of their involvement and their ideas. I hope they won’t turn away from our challenges. We desperately need their energy. They are resilient, like America has always been. It’s their turn now and I’m excited for it.

So my resolutions in 2019 include trying to help and empower them, reminding them of the great moral promise of government and the importance of a free press, and the logic of listening to science and thinking like a planet.

As T.S. Eliot said, “There is only the fight to recover what has been lost … there is only the trying.” I believe that. So let’s get to work, together.