Resolution Ramble

johnhartstudios

      It is January 9th.  I am really starting my new year today.  
     I am not sure what exactly happened to the “official” first eight days of this year, but rumor has it I spent it sleeping, watching sports, watching more movies than sports, and even binge watching a few series.  Eating badly may have also been a part of it.  The most productive thing I did was to blog each and every day.  
     So, how will I return to the work of the productive segment of society?
     First, another blog, and it may as well be this one.  (It’s OK to groan… out loud preferably).
     Second, I should deal with the whole, annually recurring, resolution thing.  But methinks, I should not deal with it seriously.  I need to face the reality that very few actually hold to the resolutions they so easily and forthrightly make for themselves.  My cousin Brenda, who has an amazing sense of humor, understands this fully and has posted an amazing insight on facebook:

I can’t believe it has been another year since I didn’t become a better person.

      Another friend posted:  "Today, I am multi-slacking."  Yes, I have multi-slacked.  I may better at multi-slacking than I have ever been at multi-tasking.
      Well this about sums it up.  
      For most of us, the return to work, and demands and deadlines posed in that milieu, prioritize our attention and activities.  We immediately return to our work obligations and our modus operandi for dealing with such.  Some may call it a rut rather than use Latin words to make it sound more sophisticated and more important than the random and haphazard thing it is.  
      I don’t mean to sound so defeatist or to paint such a dreary picture of how we live.  Thoreau wrote “The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation.”  I am not sure how true that is anymore.  There are so many entertaining diversions and an abundance of cheap junk food to shield our minds from desperation these days.  They all become part of that normal routine as well.  I am not sure if Thoreau’s condemnation even applies in our current manifestation of civilization.  
     Does it really matter?  
     Probably not, if you are content or even simply accepting of your lot.  Certainly not, if you have friends and family about you that you love and care about and who love and care about you.  
      There is a post that folks my age from Detroit are reposting that begins with, “I grew up in Detroit.”  it goes for a several decently written paragraphs extolling what life was like coming of age in the 1960s and 70s.  It covered the old TV shows we used to watch and the Norman Rockwell community and family life we all experienced.  It ends with:

Re-post if you're thankful for your childhood and will never forget where you came from & the time you came from! Wouldn't it be nice if it were possible to get back to this way of life? I really liked that life!!!!!!!!

     I am not about to repost it.  When it comes to nostalgia, we remember the great warm memories that may have even become greater and warmer with the passing years.  We forget the negatives.  And there are positives and negatives to each and every era.  We forget that all of these memories were from the mostly innocent, glass is always half-full, perspective of us as children.  If only we could post or resolve our way back to the pleasant memories of those bygone years.  
     Remembering, however, is a very good thing.  It helps to recall the joys and pleasant times of the past.  It is tempting to want to recreate them but that is really hard, if not impossible, to do.  We can work on our mindset and perspective and maybe recreate some of the nostalgic past that way in that most important space…. between our ears.
     So, what am I resolving?  I am resolving to return to work tomorrow and to try to be a better person.  The first part is quite doable as I have stuff to get done.  The second… we shall see.