Five Simple Ways To Solve All the World's Problems

Regardless of how you feel about the Executive Branch's recent gun proposals, you more than likely believe that people are responsible for their own actions.  This might be the only place where American values and Existentialism dovetail perfectly.

But the World is big and messy.  Sure, it's all fine and good to bang the drum of personal accountability, but can your individual actions affect a bigger change?  Yes, yes they can.

Here are five things that you can do right now, without any legislation, training, or brand new Apple products to make your home, neighborhood, town, county, state, country, and globe a better place:

1) Think kindly. The German word zeitgeist translates roughly to "the feeling of the times." There's been a black rain cloud over this nation for eleven years. Enough with the anger already -- it simply perpetuates more anger. Conversely, kind thoughts lead to more kind thoughts. Use your giant people brain to change the zeitgeist.

2) Speak kindly. This goes not only for individuals but for organizations. Yeah, you know who you are. If you are a "news" network whose only editorial directive is spewing venom, you are contributing to the problem. Let's all agree to say nice things or not say anything at all, just like our moms taught us. And if we have to say something hateful, save it for Nickelback.

3) Act kindly. Look, happy people don't shoot. Beaten kids grow into angry adults. Bullied kids sometimes reach a breaking point. "Road rage" is rude behavior at 70 mph, et cetera. It goes back to that zeitgeist deal -- acts of kindness perpetuate more kindness, and vice versa.

4) Mental health is everybody's problem. Some people have broken brains. It's not their fault. They aren't lazy, nor are they faking it. They are broken. We can own up to this and provide real help to those who need it, or we can continue suffering the consequences of denial. Help might mean reaching out to a friend or relative, or it might mean accepting that a few extra bucks of tax money for programs is a good investment, I don't know.  Bottom line: Sometimes the paradox of "personal responsibility" is that it means "helping someone else."

5) If you collect something, be reasonable and responsible. Nobody has ever stolen Gram Gram's Franklin Mint thimble collection and gone on a sewing rampage. If you own guns lock them up, and seriously -- do you need a rocket launcher? The former Soviet Union collected so many nuclear weapons that they lost track of them. The Sandy Hook shooter used his mother's semi-automatic rifle. On an on. I don't want to violate your rights, I simply suggest that implicit to those rights is the responsibility to be reasonable.

In short, do the things you were taught in kindergarten. It's the least we can do for the kindergarteners we lost at Sandy Hook.