"What are we here for?" Annie Dillard asks in The Writing Life. "Proper chorum, the monks say: for the sake of the choir."

What makes a good life? What is the value in trying to live one? Everywhere we look there are people struggling mightily to ensure only their version is the only one allowed. The beautiful balance of our natural world has been threatened because we have been thoughtless and selfish in how we have built our nests. The thrall of political power has distanced us from the vast numbers of people who sleep in the dust and have only despair for their lives. There is so much heartache. But could it be that these and countless others reasons like them are why a good life is so valuable? Could all this wrestling with each other be how we build one? Change in any form can only be built with the hearts and minds of everyday people. Generals and Kings, Amahs, Presidents, leaders, warlords and bosses are nothing without them. We are the only tool they have. Sweeping events in life may seem to arrive in one splendid moment, but with a closer look the brilliance of change good or bad, is composed of the lives of individuals. This year has been used up. Worn and frayed it is being gratefully ushered out by many of us. But before we close the door forever, perhaps we could pause just a moment to gather up from the tatters all the good stuff: the small kindnesses, the acts of compassion and unconditional love, the belly laughs, audacity, art and music and poetry and literature—all the boundless blessings of a good life our world so desperately needs. The New Year is arriving and we have important work to do.