The holidays are a special time not only for "the reason for the season" but also because they tend to bring out the very best in people. Even those who tend to be the curmudgeonliest end up showing some love for their fellow man while those who are typically non-participative in the community donate to worthwhile causes.

Arriving hand-in-hand with these positive behaviors are the thoughts that people have for making themselves better. New Years resolutions abound, with people looking for ways to reinvent themselves. More often than not these goals are never reached, a victim of all talk and no action.

Maybe things can be a little different in 2008. A melting pot of this respect for humanity, the sense of community and the need for the new definition of self can truly work wonders for the common good. If people chose to make a resolution that didn’t benefit only themselves but instead made one that changed others we would all be better for it.

Therefore, I am asking that each and every one of you resolve yourselves now to keep alive the sense of community that you have now and dedicate yourselves to better the world around you not just during the holidays but year round. Become involved, become a leader, take people - if not the community as a whole - under your wing and take them all to a destination or an idea they may not have strived for or reached on their own. Give back to the community that has in some way given to all of us.

Many people believe giving back to community means donating to a cause. Sure, that’s one way, but there is so very much more that you can do to positively affect people from all walks of life. It’s free, all you need is to give some time, some energy, and, most of all, some heart. Some of it’s easy. Some of it’s difficult. But all of it is worth the effort and, definitely, the rewards.

What can you do? The choices are many. You could lend a helping hand to a youth organization like the Boy Scouts, the PTA or little league, directly impacting the youngsters who represent our future. You can participate in the affairs of this wonderful nation in which we live by offering your two cents at a town meeting, putting your opinion to print, or even running for office. You can enlist in the military. You can join a community service organization like the Lions Club or Rotary. You can do some chores and offer companionship for the lonely senior down the street. You can be active in the outreach programs run by your church.

Those are but a few of the many, many things you could do. It’s up to you as to what you can accomplish as a leader and as a doer. The sky’s the limit and the goals are yours.

Perhaps some will say I’m being a little too optimistic in hoping people will accept this charge. Most people will ignore it and choose to look at is as rhetoric. But, there might be a handful of people who pick up the ball and run with it. The nice thing about the act of community leadership is, those people who do chose to participate and lead may be few, but those they impact will be many. It takes but one match to light a fire, one person to make a difference. All I ask is that you become that person in 2008.