Looking Back and Looking Forward

While I didn’t accomplish everything on my list from the beginning of the year, 2015 was still pretty epic.  If I had to pick themes for the year, I’d say I challenged myself more than usual, tried to say yes more than no, spent more time reflecting, and fell back into a few old habits that die hard.  To keep my mind focused on the good, and to look forward to next year, here are 15 things I did in 2015, and a few things to strive for in 2016:

• *Hiked a winter 14er (Quandary in January, pretty amazing!)
• Went to confession at least once a month
• Went on a retreat
• Put music to 5 of my songs
• Presented a poster at PPAG
• Survived the mud of West Maroon Pass (hiked from Aspen to Crested Butte and back for those not in the know)

• Summitted two new 14ers, one of them solo, and my first 13er
• Ate a peach in Palisade (it was the size of my head)
• *Watched the leaves change in New England, and went horseback riding on the beach, finally
• *Became a board-certified pediatric pharmacotherapy specialist…BAM!!!
• Won a softball championship with all the people that we used to win championships with
• Saw 5 of 6 former college roomies, definitely one of the biggest blessings of the year!
• Went camping twice, for the second year in a row, which makes me feel like I’m officially legit
• *Gave several dozen flu shots (what goes without saying is this also means I got my immunization certification)
• Beat the Puzzle Room!!  One of my favorite activities of the year!

The ones with the asterisks are my New Year’s Resolution accomplishments- three things outside my comfort zone (four, if you count traveling by myself), and one new place (I actually had several new places this year).

Goals for 2016:

• CAMINO!!!!
• Reteach myself all the Spanish I learned and then forgot last time I was in Nicaragua so I can function in Nicaragua again
• Apparently give a killer Maid of Honor speech
• Coordinate a successful nursing education program
• Send a friend a card every month
• Hike a new 14er (this could probably be a resolution every year forever)
• Take someone up their first 14er
• Read a book that inspires me
  

My version of love winning

I had hoped to bury my head in the sand and try to ignore the rumblings of the public sphere.  I had debated disconnecting from Facebook for a week in an effort to help myself remain charitable.  But that is the coward's way out.  And, as St. John Paul the Great said, "The truth is not always the same as the majority decision." My heart breaks for strangers, acquaintances, and dear friends who believe wholeheartedly in Obama's words: "This is a victory for America...we are all more free," and who also think that #LoveWins is an accurate tagline for the direction in which America is headed.

I have two general directions for my thoughts on this matter, one falling firmly in the faith camp, and one landing more in the political camp.

First, I think it is ironic that the masses are so eager to jump on a bandwagon of support, "loving" their brothers and sisters who may live a different lifestyle, encouraging those who have been ridiculed and debased, celebrating a shift in public acceptance.  And I wonder how supportive those same masses would be of Orthodox Catholics who have suffered persecution, hatred, discrimination, and poorly rationalized attacks for loving the unborn baby, loving the disabled elderly woman who no longer contributes to society, loving the prisoner whose redemption rests solely in the hands of God.  I know the members of the Catholic Church have not always lived out the grace, compassion, and love of Christ in a way that is befitting of her, and for those instances of failure, we must beg forgiveness.  But I also know that the Catholic stance of homosexuality is founded in deep and life-giving love of the human person.  I'm not going to take the time to explain the stance, though I would be happy to discuss it with anyone willing to truly listen, but the way Christ calls us to love those with same-sex attraction is a way of loving that is truly free.  Not the misguided understanding of freedom running rampant in our culture of death, which dictates that true freedom is the ability to self-govern those decisions which will bring about the most pleasure and satisfaction.  No, true freedom as understood by the Catholic Church is God "conferring on him (man) the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his own actions...so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection."  (CCC 1730)  True freedom is the freedom to direct our will toward the attainment of what it means to be fully human.  Sometimes this involves sacrifice.  Sometimes it involves suffering.  Sometimes it involves acting in the best interest of others.  And loving someone means wanting what is best for them, not simply allowing them to do whatever they want to do.  In this way, I think sometimes it is harder to be loving than tolerant.  I can love someone without condoning their actions, and this holds true whether we are talking about same-sex attraction, alcoholism, anger, dishonesty, idolatry, envy, violence, etc.  A mother who refuses to let her child eat cake for breakfast everyday is not anti-cake.  She is loving her child and wanting what is best for them.  I could go on and on, but the primary thing I want to say is that it is possible to be in favor of upholding the traditional definition of marriage and still be loving toward those who disagree.  And if I'm being perfectly honest, I think it is those who seek to uphold that definition who have the best interest of humanity at heart.  Two quotes come to mind.  The first, from 1 Corinthians, "And I will show you a still more excellent way," and the second from Chesteron, oft quoted by yours truly, "Catholic doctrine and discipline may be walls, but they are the walls of a playground."  I would argue that I'm the one living more freely, and I long to share that with those who would dare to try.

Second, a brief note on the political side of things.  There is a lengthy article from the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy (which you can read here) that details a logical defense of the traditional, or conjugal, view of marriage.  One of the more interesting things I think it addresses is why the State should get to be involved in upholding that definition (or in redefining it as the case may be).  Read at your own risk, it is a long article, but I think it's important to be educated and to understand why you believe what you do, rather than just taking a moral relativity stance (which, if we're being fair, is a little lazy and a very slippery slope).  If we define marriage as centuries of cultures have done before us, as a conjugal union between one man and one woman, to be comprehensive, monogamous, oriented toward children, etc, then marriage as an institution is critical to the success of society, and therefore I would argue, can be regulated (to an extent) by the government.  If, however, you subscribe to the revisionist view of marriage, which defines marriage as a relationship between two romantically loving and caring persons who share the burdens and benefits of domestic life, then it doesn't really make sense for the government to be involved at all.  There is nothing in that definition that hints at marriage having an impact on the common good of society as a whole, or really upon any person outside that partnership (or trio, or foursome, as the tendency may now trend).  Marriage, by this definition, also struggles to stand firm against further, more egregious, modifications.  The article comes to some pretty definitive conclusions.

"First, marriage is not a legal construct with totally malleable contours—not “just a contract.” Otherwise, how could the law get marriage wrong? Rather, some sexual relationships are instances of a distinctive kind of relationship—call it real marriage—that has its own value and structure, whether the state recognizes it or not, and is not changed by laws based on a false conception of it."
"Second, the state is justified in recognizing only real marriages as marriages."
"Third, there is no general right to marry the person you love, if this means a right to have any type of relationship that you desire recognized as marriage. There is only a presumptive right not to be prevented from forming a real marriage wherever one is possible."

Ultimately, the conversation comes down to the definition of marriage, which is where we have to start.  Not by talking about what's fair or unfair, not by putting all those in defense of traditional marriage under the umbrella of bigotry, not by proclaiming our support in rainbows, not by being silent.  There is the law of God and the law of man.  And I hope that in the pursuit of "progressing" one, we don't trample the other.

Who Writes These Lists?

Someone commented the other day about the plethora of lists on Facebook, "best of this", "top ten that", etc, and how nobody who writes the lists seems to have definitive expertise on the subject.  While I don't claim expertise, I will certainly claim enthusiasm for Denver's growing beer scene.  I've been asked before to name my favorite area breweries, and I always have a hard time putting them to paper.  I've visited over 50 Colorado breweries and tried beer from at least 20 others, so it was hard narrowing down the list.  I chose either ones that I consistently return to, or ones that were so amazing on my first (and only) trip that I would recommend them solely on that experience.  So here goes.

My Top Ten Denver Area Breweries (in alphabetical order):
Brewery Rickoli- gluten-free for those who care, and some of the best-tasting hoppy beers around; *Recommendation: Social Lubricant Scotch Ale or Monolith Stout (barrel-aged if you can)
Bull and Bush- not necessarily stand-out beers, though several are very good, but I dig the food, the atmosphere, and the fact that they have an amazing Scotch list if I'm not in the mood for beer; *Recommendation: Tower ESB
Chain Reaction- I judge breweries by beers and staff, and they both are great here, the owner bought everyone pizza on my first visit; *Recommendation: Pink Peppercorn Saison
Comrade- making waves on the scene in their first year, great beer names, consistently good beer; *Recommendation: Superpower IPA, Koffee Kream Stout
Copper Kettle- great staff, local feel, always something new to try; *Recommendation: Snowed In (if you can), Basil Blonde Ale, Puppy Charlie's with Raspberries
Dry Dock- probably the most widely distributed of the list, they hit the mark on both flagships (vanilla porter, HMS Bounty) and seasonals (pumpkin!); *Recommendation: HMS on Nitro
Epic- an impressive taproom, solid bottle offerings, wide variety, lots of big beers; *Recommendation: Brainless anything, Fermentation Without Representation, Sage Saison, Big Bad Baptist
Former Future- I have high hopes for this one as they have excellent beer and a friendly owner; *Recommendation: Salted Caramel Porter, Bonny Ace
Lone Tree- older than most of these, they can and bottle, which is a big plus when choosing camping beer, and they have consistent food trucks; *Recommendation: Peach Pale Ale
Wit's End- the smallest of the bunch, but offering some of the most interesting flavors (Belgian-oatmeal-IPA), my only beef is their limited hours; *Recommendation: Wilford, Ugly Sweater

I intentionally stuck to Denver-area, rather than Front Range, even though I know there are a lot of really amazing breweries in FoCo, Boulder, Summit County, and other surrounding areas.  I give honorable mention to New Belgium for an amazing tour, and Upslope for having one of the widest varieties of taps and also one of my favorite tap-room finds (Barrel-Aged Brown Ale).

I also want to give a shout-out to some amazing beer bars around Denver, for when you can't decide on a single brewery:
Jake's Brew Bar- hands down, one of my absolute faves
Freshcraft
Hops and Pie
Historian's Ale House
Lowry Beer Garden

On the list to try soon:
Black Shirt
Locavore
Kannah Creek
Mockery
River North

Better Late Than Never

Stealing the idea from multiple others, I present to you my list of 14 things I accomplished in 2014 and 15 things on my list for 2015.  If I complete even half the list, I think I'll succeed in my traditional New Year's resolution of 1 new place and 3 things that challenge my comfort zone.

2014 saw me do the following:

1. PALS re-certification
2. *Finish a half-marathon (in sub 2-hour time, I might add)
3. *Kiss the Blarney Stone (and many other Ireland adventures)
4. Be a patient (it's miserable)
5. Win 2 flag-football championships
6. Host a book club
7. Hike Twin Sisters with the twin sister
8. Camp...TWICE!
9. *Play Pato Pato Pollo (and many other Nicaragua adventures)
10. Wear a Halloween costume (this one's a BIG deal)
11. *Learn a song on guitar
12. Be submerged in a giant mud puddle (part of the Warrior Dash)
13. Drink Jack Daniels at the Bluebird in Nashville
14. Hike RMNP

The items with asterisks are my one new place (Ireland) and three things outside my comfort zone (mission trip, guitar, half-marathon)

I'm hoping 2015 will hold the following:

1. Go on a retreat
2. Attend a new sporting event (lacrosse, college football, etc)
3. Hit confession every month (already got two months down!)
4. Hike a new 14er
5. Eat a Palisade peach in Palisade
6. Present a poster at PPAG
7. Listen at an open mic night
8. Take Dad's bike for a spin (the Kawasaki, not the bicycle)
9. Put music to one of my songs
10. Go on a picnic
11. Hike the Maroon Bells
12. Read something by von Balthasar
13. Watch the leaves change in New England
14. Watch a sunrise
15. Remodel a bathroom

There you have it- this year's version of a resolution, or fifteen.

Padre Symon Dice...

I know that after we got back from climbing Kilimanjaro, I was too tired to want to blog about it, but looking back now, I'm so grateful to have those memories in writing so I can relive them.  It's enjoyable now to relive them because I don't remember feeling crappy and the pictures bring me joy rather than reminders of being cold or nauseous.  I know I'll regret it if I don't document my trip to Nicaragua even though I haven't really felt like writing about it.  So, I pulled out my "journal" from the trip to record some of the lasting impressions.  I give you the top 5 highlights of the first annual Catholic Young Adult Sports mission trip:

1. Our group of "misioneros": For a random sampling of CYAS, we had a pretty darn amazing group of missionaries from Denver and San Diego (and a Miami straggler who was involved with CYAS when she lived in Denver).  I was a little worried initially about the group dynamic, given what I knew and didn't know about the people going, especially since the prep meetings were sparsely attended.  But God knows what He's doing.  And I felt like we really went from a set of individuals to a unified group very quickly.  There were enough of us that we weren't sick of each other and few enough that we got to know each other pretty well.  We traveled together, ate together, prayed together, played together, napped together, struggled together, laughed together, attempted to translate together, learned to surf together, and I think were a little bit of God for each other in a foreign place.  Even though I haven't seen anyone from the group in the last few weeks, I feel like they are family.

2.  Our families in Nicaragua: I hit the jackpot with my host family.  Each of the girls was partnered with another to stay with host families in pairs.  Except me.  Seven girls = one odd woman out.  Meeting our host families on day one, after a super long day and a half of travel, a cultural performance, dinner in the spotlight, and essentially having been awake for 40+ hours, was a little intimidating.  I don't know much about anyone else's families, but I know that we all were touched by their generosity.  And they were all happy to have us if it meant smiles on the children's faces.  On the plus side, my host sisters were our true hosts for the week, and were going to be doing everything with us.  They spoke decent English and were generous with their accommodations.  On the minus side, I was all by myself and had to sink or swim.  Zindy, Bianka, and Carmen (sisters and mom) turned out to be the best host family I could have asked for.  They were attentive, chatty, funny; they fed me well; I got to sleep in my own bed, etc.  Of course, when I say chatty and funny, I mean chatty and funny in Spanish.  Which brings me to number 3.

3.  Speaking Spanish: It had been 10 years since I'd spoke Spanish for longer than a single sentence or two, joking around with Laura.  Ten years since any class, ten years since I'd learned vocabulary or verb conjugation.  And while my host sisters both spoke enough English that I probably could have survived, I told them from the start that I wanted to only speak in Spanish within the house.  English with the group was great, but when it was just us, we were all in on the torture of making me speak Spanish.  Turns out you can have some pretty decent conversations with the vocabulary of a 5-year-old.  I had forgotten A LOT of vocab and most of the verb tenses.  But my sisters were patient and excellent at speaking slowly and using words they knew I'd understand.  And I got pretty good at speaking around words I didn't know.  Our conversations were able to go beyond favorite colors and animals and how many sisters I had.  We talked about the church in Nicaragua and in America, why people leave it, and why I haven't, and how Pope Francis is reaching people.  We talked about the poverty, and how families are broken because parents leave their children to try to make money for a better life but it leaves them poor in other ways.  We talked about my "sister" Bianka's trip to America, and my job, looking for love in American and Nicaragua, the joys of Colorado, and my dog, and food, and other typical things you might talk about with new friends and old family.  And as the week progressed, my Spanish got better and better.  I stopped having to wait for our wonderful new friend Nola to translate because I understood what was being said, and I stopped having to wait for Nola to translate my instructions for the kids because I could just say it in Spanish.  I learned new words and phrases and put them to good use.  I regressed pretty quickly once we returned, but it's nice to know that knowledge is lying dormant in there.

4.  The Universal Church: A couple things struck me about the mission trip.  It was people-oriented, not task-oriented which basically meant that we didn't really have much to do other than be with the people and play with the kids.  But our presence was enough for them to feel God's love through the Universal Church.  It had been 16 years since Catholics had come to the town of Condega, and they'd never seen an American priest.  We got to celebrate daily Mass with them and hand out rosaries and prayer cards and participate in their parish festival.  They had felt like the Church had forgotten them, and we were able to show them it hadn't.  And we were blessed in return.  Even though the Church is the same everywhere, it's also really cool to see the differences.  Kids wear rosaries to school.  The Church bells ring through the entire town 10 minutes before Mass starts to give you time to head to the church, and then again as Mass is starting.  Father Scott was basically a celebrity.  The adoration chapel always had someone in it (even the dogs came in to adore Jesus, but that's another story).  And there were little things that were different that I really liked.  When the priest elevates the body and blood of Christ, and in some parishes in America, the altar server rings a bell and people bow their heads, in Nicaragua, everyone says "Senor mio y Dios mio" (My Lord and My God).  Everyone knows every song and they all sing without songbooks.  Everyone is involved in the Church.  When we introduced ourselves, they asked us to say our names and our age and our role in the church.  It's a foreign way of viewing things when most of us are content to attend Mass and pray in our homes.  They wanted to know what else we were doing, or how we volunteer.

5.  The Culture: Of course I enjoyed the food.  We had everything from pinto gallo (lots and lots of pinto gallo, and rice, and beans, and rice and beans) to repocheta (fried tortilla with beans and cheese) to malanga (tropical root vegetable that looks like a purple potato) to rompopo (a drink with rum, egg, and sugar) to nacatamales (like a giant tamale with masa and pork).  Bacon is different there.  Milk is flavored with spices and served in plastic bags, where you bite the corner off the bag and suck the milk out of the hole.  Toast was topped with yogurt and bananas.  There are these fabulous little scone things that they call bread, served with coffee.  Other than the food, we learned about the strange cultural custom in Condega of cracking an egg on someone's head when it's their birthday (I don't get the feeling that it was a Nicaragua thing, just a weird town tradition).  We celebrated the festival of the Divino Nino (Divine Child) with the town, walking all the way through town behind a statue of the child Jesus in a pickup, with a guy accidentally setting off fireworks into random houses.  Every community performed songs and dances for us, reinforcing the concept that America has no culture.  Power outages were commonplace.  Showers were cold.  Nothing starts on time.  Everybody rides in chicken buses (pickups tricked out with frames in the back to hold 15-20 people).  Roosters and dogs wake everyone up at 5am.  But all these things really added to feeling like we got the real Nicaragua experience.

I could add more about teaching kids to play "Pato, Pato, Pollo" (duck, duck, chicken), or the Human Knot, or kickball, or relay races.  I could talk about making mashed potatoes and peeling dozens and dozens of apples for apple crisp in an attempt to cook a "traditional" American dinner for our host families.  I could talk about the wonder of being able to buy any and every drug over the counter (works well when you need antibiotics for a dental infection).  I could talk about the days at the beach with the barbed wire and the guys with machine guns and the spear fishing and horseback riding and crabs and toads and lizards.  But I'm exhausted and if I stay up any longer, I'm going to crack open a beer that I don't need.

So, there it is for posterity sake.  Some accounting of my trip so I'll remember it later.  And realized how many blessings God packed into 9 days.

A Mile High

I realized after I titled this blog that I attended a panel discussion on the morality (or lack thereof) of recreational marijuana use.  Not my intended pun for the day, but I suppose I can use it as a segue of sorts.  During the talk, Fr. Peter mentioned that many who use marijuana recreationally are doing so in order to either escape from reality or to discover a sense of awe and wonder, to philosophize and ponder the deeper meaning of life.  Unfortunately, their chosen means robs them of an authentic human experience.  We were challenged to examine our own lives and identify ways not to escape reality, but to fully engage in reality, to feel that awe and wonder in the sense God intended, through His own creation, and communion with it.  As Fr. Peter said, "He created tropical fish!" We don't have to look far to be amazed.

That's waxing a little philosophical for what I want to write about, but one of the ways in which I'm routinely struck by awe and in which I find myself fully engaged in life is when I take advantage of this beautiful state.  Colorado, in all its glory and majesty, is to me, singular proof of God's existence.  Not all of the ways in which I've lived and loved Colorado are found in the outdoors, but I believe that the culture is rooted enough in beauty (whether or not people identify it as God's), that it permeates a lot of what the rest of the state is doing.  Of course, there's a lot of hedonism and narcissism and greed and godlessness in Colorado, but that's a topic for another day.  As I said...lousy segue.  I give you my favorite Colorado memories:

• James Bond film festival at the Mayan, followed by Sweet Action Ice Cream- Broadway is an icon, and sometimes even just driving down it makes me feel part of something a little more artistic and human.  Other times, I see a guy lowriding so bad that he trips on the curb and loses his pants.  But for the most part, Broadway triggers the positive sense of culture.  And of course, who wouldn't want to listen to a five-piece band perform "Underneath the Mango Tree" live right before a 21st century showing of Dr. No?  I don't think I need to justify the Sweet Action part.
• Mass atop Blanca Peak- Is it sad that one of my biggest regrets in life is being too self-conscious of camera noise to take a picture during the consecration?  Fr. John gave his permission to snap away, and my hand froze in my pocket (probably also literally as it was freezing at the summit) as he elevated the host, back to us, sun illuminating the Eucharist and shining over the incredible mountain range below us.  That moment, the whole trip really, was a combination of two of my true loves: Catholicism and the mountains.
• Film on the Rocks- I have a lot of these memories, but my favorite was tailgating before the movie with a little gas Coleman grill, feasting on kabobs and grilled pineapple, drinking some good craft beer, heading in just in time to catch Marc Broussard in concert, and then enjoying a movie under the stars.  To be honest, I don't even remember what movie played that night.  But the whole experience was quintessentially Colorado.  Although I do remember in detail my film experience of the Princess Bride in which I got to be in the majority for once as I quoted nearly an entire movie.  Inconceivable!
• Camping in the Collegiate Peak Wildnerness- the hiking was forgettable, but the camping was awesome.  It helped that it had been years since I'd been camping, so anything involving a fire and sleeping under the stars was probably going to amazing.  It's too bad the trip was marred by our least successful 14er attempts ever.  But not even the extra watery scrambled eggs (read the directions, Dad!) or the wind or the missed trail could ruin the trip.  Honorable mention goes to my most recent camping experience, full of five-star food (ashes 'n' pancakes, yum) and relaxation and good friends.
• Memories I only have pictures of- despite the attempt of soccer tournaments to muscle out any other Colorado time, I do know that we had some highlights of my childhood.  Horseback riding in Royal Gorge, multiple trips to the Great Sand Dunes (if you haven't been- go NOW), fireworks after a USA v. Cuba baseball game, etc.  Even if the recollection is blurry, I know that my parents made an effort to show me some of this beautiful state.
• Snowmobiling the Continental Divide- a long weekend trip with Mary to Steamboat Springs offered a lot of of Colorado-y things, including my favorite apres-ski slopeside with happy hour specials, snowshoeing a ski resort, James Bond marathons (not exactly Colorado), and some good skiing.  But the highlight was snowmobiling, rocketing over jumps, weaving down single-tracks, and taking in some of the most gorgeous scenery on the planet.  
• Brewery tastings- it's no secret that I love craft beer, and our state has a LOT to offer.  Avery, Backcountry, Breckenridge, Bristol, Bull & Bush, Comrade, Copper Kettle, Denver Beer Co, Dillon Dam, Dry Dock, Epic, Gravity. Grist, Hogshead, Lone Tree, Prost, Renegade, Rickoli, Station 26, 38 State, 12 Degree, Tommyknocker, Twisted Pine, Wit's End... you get the idea.  I just like tasting the experiments, spending time with friends, seeing the culture, and watching someone's passion grow.
• Miscellany (because my coffee is getting cold and I have other things to do)- hiking in Chautauqua Park, time spent at St. Malo's, any trip to the REI flagship store, lazy boating on Lake Dillon, running in Wash Park, lunch on any summit, hiking Bierstadt in the dark, tandem bikes at City Park, singing the sun down at STM, snowshoeing in Grand Lake, and many others I'm sure I'm forgetting.  

If I could take the time to create more of these memories by fully living an authentically human life, seeking goodness, truth and beauty rather than seeking escape, I think I would be doing pretty well.

Commitment

"A gentleman always accepts the first invitation."

Paraphrased from a coffee table book, you may be wondering how this fits into my life.  A friend of mine has often quoted this when relating one of the major problems with young adults today.  Let's face it--we are a generation of commitment-phobes.  This manifests in the monumental (divorce rates, a "hook-up" culture) and the miniscule (that good ol' "maybe" RSVP that allows you to back out if something better comes along).

Don't get me wrong, I am the queen of the last-minute back out.  I always blamed it on my introversion, arriving at a night in question and realizing that I'd much rather stay home and read on the couch.  And I'm a space cadet, constantly forgetting the plans I've made and double-booking myself, forcing a choice which inevitably leaves someone abandoned.  My Catholic conscience has gifted me with perhaps more guilt than the average Joe about turning tail and running, but I never realized the full impact my selfish whims had until recently.

I've been on the receiving end of the back out a little too often for my liking the past couple months, and it sucks (good use of my abundant vocabulary, I know).  It makes me feel like my commitment to the meeting/committee/party/book club/lunch date/tentative plans means absolutely nothing.  And it makes me feel just a little less committed to the next one, a little less likely to commit to something else.  It's egoistic, belittling, self-perpetuating, injurious, and rampant, and I hate thinking that I've contributed to someone else feeling like this.

I haven't been doing so hot on my attempt to balance egoism and altruism--turns out I'm not as selfless as I'd like to think--but this is a great place to start.  Accepting invitations and following through, letting our word mean something, and honoring the commitment of others...is it too optimistic to think we can right our generation one small piece at a time?