I only wish I could stop crying as I write this, my last post of the year.

27 dead from the Newtown shootings in Connecticut. Lives that will never progress, will never be part of our shared future. All a result of an unspeakable tragedy.

Lives snuffed out by a lack of political will and guts. Lives I might have helped save had I been a better consultant to the handgun control movement.

Yet millions more died this year, and all the armies of caring, skilled and decent nonprofit minions failed to stop that. Syria. The Democratic Republic of Congo. Uganda. Kenya. Sudan. Haiti. Libya. I probably could have, should have done more to help. We all should have.

Not to mention all the deaths and dashed hopes in China, India, and the inner cities and rural hellholes of the U.S. Not to mention the anonymous torture chambers, prisons, nursing homes and homeless shelters around the globe we’ll never know about … and sometimes were too overwhelmed to even care about. Why didn’t I find some extra hours to help? Why didn’t you?

I let them down. And maybe, so did you.

So why, in the face of seemingly endless defeat, drowning in the eddy of human death, pain, suffering and misery, do we even think we can make a difference?

Because we fundraisers can. We must. And over the years we’ve proved we can. Women’s rights. LGBT rights. Human rights and civil rights. Animal Rights. Rights of children, poor and aging. Wildlife, disease, arts, culture, you name it.

What we have to remember—especially the young in our ranks—is that all the gains and victories have to be re-fought and defended even as we break new ground. Whew!

I know in my Agitator writings I’m sometimes rough, and sometimes angry; often too demanding in terms of what I expect from our trade.

My expectations stem from battles, victories and dashed hopes delivered over 55 years as a fundraiser. A commitment driven by a burning belief that as a fundraiser I have the duty to provide the fuel that powers the engine of change and hope. The engine that eases suffering and frees the imprisoned and oppressed.

To expect any less from each other is to surrender to the fear of defeat and the triumph of evil.

Never.

For those among us too complacent or lazy to read and learn, to those who fear innovation and risk in favor of job security, and those who lie awake thinking only about how to please the client, boss or board, I urge you to seek a new career outside of fundraising in 2013. The world will be better for your change and advancement.

For those ready to re-enlist for another year of challenges, willing to learn, innovate and rise above the mediocrity of sloth and complacency I’ll be there with you. Urging you on, learning from you, and sometimes pissing you off.

In the meantime I wish you the best for the holidays and the joy of making even more of a difference in 2013.

Roger

P.S.  For our 7^th year in a row Tom will take it from here to the closing bell of 2012. Be on guard against some of his strange year-end rituals which, fortunately, are always offset by great insights.