I was taken by surprise twice the other day - first when I was filling my car with gasoline and realized I was paying under $2 a gallon, and second when I opened a financial statement and realized the value of my retirement account was lower than I'd expected.

The pain of realizing that lower oil prices had affected the stock market and thus reduced the value of my retirement account blunted the joy of paying less than $40 to fill my Buick's substantial fuel tank.

Happy New Year to the dynamic known as cause-and-effect. And happy New Year to the possibility that, if we all would resolve to consider this dynamic, we might live more thoughtful lives in 2015 and beyond.

Take the gasoline example. AAA estimates that Americans saved about $14 billion on gas in 2014 as the price of crude oil fell below $60 per barrel. That's great - until you contemplate the effect of a global oil glut on the economies and political structures of the planet's oil-producing countries.

If the world lurches into another recession, will we be as happy about paying $1.99 for a gallon of gas? In 2015, let's at least be aware that we are part of a complicated global picture.

More important, let's also resolve to think about what we're doing when we elect weak political leaders who care more about staying in office than they care about serving their country. Members of Congress who pander to constituents by focusing on just one or two issues, and who aren't willing to listen to anyone who disagrees with them, keep the government from functioning the way it's supposed to.

It's one thing for politicians to rage against "Obamacare," for example, and quite another thing to work for real health care reform.

Are we so gullible, so susceptible to manipulation that we're blind to the damage such leaders can inflict on our nation? When politicians tell us only what they think we want to hear, and we don't demand to hear the whole truth, shame on us.

Did I say Gov. Robert Bentley? I didn't, but let's consider the damaged inflicted on the state of Alabama by its current leader.

A retired physician and former state legislator, Bentley is intelligent. Having served one term as governor, he's no longer a novice in that position. And yet the governor professed not to comprehend - until, conveniently, the day after his re-election -- how bad the state's budget crisis is.

During his time on the 2014 campaign trail, as well as in his first four years as governor, Bentley refused to have the difficult conversations he should have been having with voters. He talked about trimming fat and cutting expenses - in a state budget already made lean by years of revenue shortfalls - but did not talk about the obvious need for some revenue-raising measures.

Now, instead of looking at a shortfall between $230 million and $250 million, the governor says the state is actually looking at a $700 million deficit in the general fund over the next few years. The general fund pays for such services as prisons, mental health services and Medicaid.

And guess what: Prisons are already overcrowded, the state has already cut mental health services to the bone, and Alabama still owes the federal government $72 million from a faulty Medicaid calculation it made in 2007. Now what?

Talking about tax increases makes us voters nervous, but when we let our leaders ignore Alabama's financial problems until they've secured their re-election, we let them play us for fools.

We're going to need strong leadership and fearless lawmakers to straighten out Alabama's burgeoning financial mess, and our country's going to need strong leadership and fearless lawmakers to straighten out its problems.

Instead of resolutions about losing weight and organizing our closets, I suggest we resolve that - especially with presidential and congressional elections looming in 2016 - we pay more attention to the caliber of people we elect on the local, state and national levels.

A few extra pounds and cluttered closets won't hurt us nearly as much as the consequences of weak leadership.

Frances Coleman is a freelance writer living in Baldwin County. Email her at fcoleman1953@gmail.com and "like" her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/prfrances.