People make all kinds of new year’s resolutions.

They tell themselves to exercise more and eat less, cut down on liquor and bulk up on fibre, stop smoking and start folk dancing, or clean the house and stop looking at so many dirty pictures on the internet.

Some resolutions they keep for about a day or two, and the rest generally don’t even make it that far. It isn’t easy to make yourself a promise and then stick to it, folk dancing or no folk dancing.

Therefore, my resolution this new year is a simple one; one I can keep without too much trouble, attention or effort. I am going to start being nicer to redheads.

I read that the world is running out of redheads, known in some countries and circles as “gingers.” A growing number of news reports are suggesting that gingers may even become extinct someday.

This doesn’t seem likely, but it was mentioned in National Geographic magazine. which is where a lot of people go for truth, enlightenment, world maps and the latest developments of naked pygmy tribes in Africa.

Something like two per cent of the world’s population are gingers, except in Scotland, where the number sits around 13 per cent. Although they are in decline, gingers will never truly go away.

Still, it can’t hurt to be kind. Find one if you can, and nurture and protect it. Cherish your redheaded friends, and keep them safe. You never know if the one digging around in your bathroom for SPF 99 sunscreen might be the last of its kind.

Growing up with red hair is not always easy. For starters, red hair is a genetic mutation. Many normals, with their boring black, brown and blonde hair, are afraid of this and lash out at gingers.

Red hair makes you an easy target, whether your friends are hurling snowballs, spitballs or insults.

Years ago, kids called me carrot top, but it only showed their ignorance. Every ginger knows that carrot tops are green. A more accurate insult might be pumpkin head, although I didn’t get that one thrown at me until much later, when my hair had darkened and my head began to weigh about 50 pounds.

Redhead survivalists have even created dating sites that cater directly to the fiery folk, in the hopes that a careful selection process of red on red will help save the breed.

That’s an extreme approach I’m not willing to take, and a resolution I know I can’t keep, but it will not stop me from my mission. With a little kindness, compassion, and loving care, we can help save the gingers that are already out there.

If you see one, be gentle, and tell them that the world cares about them. We don’t want the gingers to go away, unless they happen to have taken up folk dancing.