It happens every year at this time, and it always surprises. On Jan. 3, 4, and 5, you can’t get a parking space at the gym. By Jan. 30, things have settled down. Is that really the shelf-life of our resolve?

I was preparing a column on local politics for this day. I had it roughed out in my head. But that parking lot has me thinking about New Year’s resolutions. I can’t say I have made a lot of them, but, like the Founding Fathers regarding religion, I think the impulse to resolution and reform — change for the better — is important. I think it’s good for individuals, groups, and societies.

We have to believe in the possibility of change — that people and human institutions can alter themselves, even as we admit they generally don’t. We have to see the birth of babies, New Year’s Day, new professional opportunities not just as the metaphors, but as the promise of growth and wisdom. Otherwise, we lose hope and the ability to pull ourselves out of the house in mid-winter.

That’s corny, I admit. But, who doesn’t open a fortune cookie? Many corny expressions — from “haste makes waste” to “I love you, Mom” — are corny but nonetheless sound.

Resolutions equal hope.

I heard an interesting take on resolutions this year from my pastor: Outsource them. The idea is a fascinating one. In addition to your own resolutions, you ask a loved one, “What would you wish or resolve for me?” And the loved one asks the same of you.

Some, on hearing this idea, remarked ruefully that this could be a very dangerous exercise.

But there is a caveat: It has to be a positive wish.

In other words, it can’t be “I’d like to see you watch less football.” Or, “My wish for you is that you drink less gin.” Or, “I resolve that you spend less time at the office.”

It has to be along the lines of “I’d like to see you buy that sailboat you’ve always wanted,” or “I’d like to help you open that restaurant you have always hoped to own.”

The caveat is key. The wish must be affirming.

So the outsourced New Year’s resolution can become a source of “goodwill toward men” — the whole point of lighting up this dark season. Goodwill — both the assumption of goodwill and the practice of goodwill — is a habit. You have to practice it for a very long time to start to feel it.

The philosopher Hannah Arendt paraphrased St. Augustine’s concept of love very simply: “I want you to be.” As Mr. Spock put it, “live long and prosper.”

I would love to see President-elect Trump say the former to Chuck Schumer and for Mr. Schumer to say the latter to the new president.

Is it possible? Some corny ideas are nonetheless sound. I do not see how the nation can progress — I don’t even see how we stop demonizing each other — if we cannot see some merit in the positions of the person on the other side of the fence, sometimes.

I would love to see a hardened Obama-hater admit that the current president has done some fine things. And I would love to see just one virulent Trump-hater admit that the next president has been assembling his team with imagination and care. Is it possible?

It has to be.

What I wish for the country in 2017 is tolerance. That’s a low bar, said a friend of mine. I disagree. Tolerance is a high art. If I want you to be, I want your perceptions and thoughts to be too.

What I wish for my friends is happiness — “the great commodity,” said the musician Neil Young.

What I wish for the city of Toledo is pride and self-confidence.

For members of my profession, I wish a sense of sacred mission.

For my children, belief in themselves.

To resolve is to hope. To resolve for others is an act of goodwill. Live long and prosper.

Keith C. Burris is editorial page editor of The Blade. Contact him at:kburris@theblade.com or 419-724-6266.

First Published January 8, 2017, 5:00 a.m.