We’ve already had disasters, accidents and violence that have resulted in tragedy. We continue to have political posturing and disagreement. We see some good things in the economy but also stresses and concerns.

Yep, 2026 has started out just like any other year.

Sometimes I find the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his poem, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, resonate more than I would like where he said: “And in despair I bowed my head: ‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said, ‘For hate is strong, and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men.'”

We’ve certainly seen what hate, which is really just a mask for fear, can do.

We’ve seen it result in ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. We’ve seen it push individuals to commit terrible acts, both in our own country and others.

We’ve even seen it come to our own little corner of the world in the shooting of Charlie Kirk at UVU in Orem in September and the arrest of an individual in Ogden in December who was allegedly plotting to attack local Jewish communities.

We still need to have some perspective. I remind myself that worldwide we likely have less violence, fear and hatred than we may have ever had in recorded history. Longfellow wrote that poem in the midst of the Civil War. My grandparents lived through two world wars and a terrible international economic depression.

The story of humanity has been filled with brutality, strife and conflict. It likely touches a far smaller percentage of people than it has in the past, while being examined and highlighted at an exponentially higher rate.

But we should still be asking ourselves this very simple question:

Who do we want to be in 2026?

I think we have the capacity to be a lot better than we were in 2025 — even with midterm elections on the horizon.

Whether we will actually be better, though, is up to us.

But I have a lot of hope.

I hope we can spend more time listening to understand than listening to argue.

I hope we can find it in ourselves to be more kind, more compassionate and more loving, particularly to those who disagree with us.

I hope we can find more time for friends and family and less time using anxiety-increasing devices and applications.

I hope we can see the value in our collective and individual humanity, and not focus so much on things that are negative.

I hope we can find ways to build instead of tear down, to give more than to take.

It’s easy to say that nothing that we do in little old Northern Utah will make much of a difference in a country of nearly 350 million people or a world of nearly 8.3 billion people.

But it does make a difference in our homes, our workplaces, our congregations, our neighborhoods and our communities.

So my biggest hope is that this year you won’t look for others to change the world but instead you will make the choices that change your world (and that of those around you) for the better.

In my opinion, that is by far the best way to make 2026 live up to its potential.

Jared Lloyd is the managing editor of the Standard-Examiner.