The discussion today was about responsibility and rational optimism.

We were in a meeting, and Toyota Motor Philippines Chairman Alfred V. Ty was talking about responsibility. Toyota Motor Philippines President Atsuhiro Okamoto was talking about rational optimism.

They discussed a few other things, of course, but that was what stuck.

In a time of massive uncertainty. They chose to to talk about what they feel should be done on a fairly basic level. Take responsibility for those around you, not just those under you. Use your power and influence and strength to do things that make things better. Those are my words, not exactly theirs, but that is what I felt came across. Not a rah-rah we are doing great talk, no excuses or complaints. Rational optimism. We have come through this very hard time, and we do not see the end of it. But we need to be responsible for our position in the world. There are those that depend on us that we don’t even know about. There are people and families and companies and communities that are affected by the decisions we make. By the actions we take, by the attitudes we bring forth. It was, very simply, their job. Our job. All of us, our job.

This is yet another anniversary of the C! Group. Every January is a big deal for us. We were, when we started, perhaps more optimistic than rational. Whether we were being responsible at the time or not is for others to judge. We just wanted to make a product we believed in, and were willing to take on some pretty public failure if we messed up. Plus, who in their right mind starts a magazine in January.

So I was going to tell you about everything that is in this issue, about all we are doing, how we have been trying to communicate. How someone many considered our competition told me today how happy he was to see our magazine in print and on a shelf.

Instead, I thought about responsibility. About rational enthusiasm.

Challenging times can bring out the best in people. If you let them. Make sure please that whatever choices you make can have the effects that you may never see but that will make things even a little better for others.

As always, we would like to say thank you for giving us a voice. For giving us responsibility. For giving us often highly irrational optimism. May we live up to all of it.

Stay safe. Stay healthy. Be kind.

Oh, and as what we have come up with in Car Casually our quickly thrown-together video show/webcast/hangout/podcast. Buy what you love, but do your homework.