On the global level, while it may seem cliche, peace remains the ultimate goal. While I fear I may be seen as somehow un-American for having the audacity to call for peace in a time when our war in Afghanistan is helping provide a small shred of comfort to people still reeling from the events of Sept. 11, now more then ever is when we need to think of the potential of peace. If our national response to the tragic events of Sept. 11 serves no other purpose then ridding the world of Osama bin Laden, then what have we truly won? Until we begin to address the base issues that would make someone want to hurt our country this severely, we will remain in the vicious, and unfortunately never-ending cycle of attack and response.

On the federal level, my hope is that people take the time to become re-engaged in the political process. The reason we need more participation from the electorate was driven home recently by Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, who again lost a battle to rescind the cost of living adjustments that senators will receive this year. With the nation in the grips of a recession, he thought those adjustments a bit silly.

The raises trigger automatically unless there is a vote to suspend them. For the past two years, Feingold has introduced legislation that would stop the automatic pay raises, and for the past two sessions, his quests have failed. So, our senators are again on track to receive $4,900 in the form of cost of living adjustment this year. As unemployment continues to soar nationwide, this unconscionable act is yet another crystal clear example of why we all need to keep an eye on our elected officials and make sure that we have the best people possible representing us.

In Minnesota, my hopes are closely tied to the legislative session that is set to start this month. As we stare down the barrel of a projected $1.95 billion budget shortfall, the time to make tough decisions is nearly at hand. While Democrats quake for their pet projects, and Republicans salivate at the chance to reduce the size of government, at the end of the day, both are charged with making the soup we all will have to eat. I pray that wisdom and compromise will rule the day, and that we will see the session closing with a budgetary agreement that provides what is best for the state, and not just what is best for the warring sides.

This state is suffering from an acute shortage of quality leadership, as the purpose of government seems to continue to stray toward party strength and away from doing the work of the people. As redistricting sets in, the talk at the Capitol has a great deal more to do with how the new district boundaries will benefit the parties than to be a tool to benefit the people.

This could truly become a great state if our leaders set aside the political demagoguery and partisan politics that have clogged the mechanism of the process for too long, and concentrated on the people they were elected to represent.

The other looming Minnesota issue that has me churned up currently is the fate of the Minnesota Twins.

In response to the recent events, I have resolved to donate the time and money I would have spent this year watching the Twins to local programs like Kinship (www.kinship.org/), an organization that is making the Twin Cities a better place without the inflated egos or paychecks of professional baseball.

Don't get me wrong. I love the Twins, but it is time for them to go. Baseball is set to implode under the weight of financial mismanagement and inflated player contracts, and as Minnesotans, we have the great opportunity to get out from under ground zero. My money will be better spent on Kinship, and my allegiance will no doubt be more appreciated by the St. Paul Saints.

As with each year, I am optimistic that the coming year will be better than the last, and I am grateful for each of you who read my occasional screeds this past year. I wanted to come up with some pithy saying with which to end my final column, but in the end, the words of author Ruben Alves seemed to say more than anything I could write.

"Let us plant dates even though those who plant them will never eat them. We must live by the love of what we will never see. This is the secret discipline. It is a refusal to let the creative act be dissolved away in immediate sense experience, and a stubborn commitment to the future of our grandchildren. Such disciplined love is what has given prophets, revolutionaries and saints the courage to die for the future they envisaged. They make their own bodies the seed of their highest hope."

Dybvig (e-mail: snow_shark@qwest.net), 26, St. Paul, is a writer, public affairs consultant and former journalist, who once ran for the City Council in Ely.