"In Indian Country, the potential for good, positive change bubbles up like the crude oil beneath the tv sitcom family who moved to Beverly Hills. You know who I mean. Thankfully, not all of 2008 was too brutal. I hope even the most pessimistic person looks to 2009 with some degree of optimism. But New Year’s resolutions are different from Christmas wish lists. One we have the power to alter and the latter is up to how well we behaved.

Making up a list of stuff to change about oneself is kind of bruising. Not the accidental kind of bruising that comes from bumping into a chair in the dark. But like taking a shot on the chin in a fight. We know full well, as our head rocks back, that we must have been in conflict somewhere. But with resolutions, the conflict is usually with ourselves. What follows is a three-pronged blanket resolution to improve us physically, mentally and emotionally.

In Indian Country, our tribal communities, reservations and headquarters are the springboards for change. But alteration must first come to our physical selves. Indians still have a stellar rate of diabetes. Our old way of eating, the protein-rich diets, natural grains and fruits are merely oddities in a commercial haze of processed carbohydrates, sugar and fats. Estimates put the diabetes rate at between 19-21 percent amongst American Indians and Alaska Natives. This is probably the point where some stop reading."

Get the Story:
S.E. Ruckman: New Year resolutions (The Native American Times 12/30)

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