29 December 2007

a resolute determination is the truest wisdom*

it's that time of year again. everyone is making a list of their new year's resolutions. i generally don't buy into that - they never materialize. nothing ever comes of them. it's like an excuse to fail at a goal. and it's not just me, we're an entire nation of resolution failures. we're a nation with no resolve: all sorts of things we'd like to change about ourselves, our lives but no commitment to make it better.

its pretty sad, if you think about it. these are things that no one (generally, no one) is asking you to change about yourself; these are things that you know need attention and you want to fix. but in a few months' time, or even just a few days or hours, we tumble down the rabbit hole and back into our old ways.

i'm just as guilty. in fact, instead of setting resolutions for myself, i like to set them for other people. i feel like less of a failure that way and i can blame someone else when things go amok.

but this year is different. this year i have to grow up. i can't be the same irresponsible person i've been for the last 27 years; i have to be an adult and sooner or later i'm going to have to be a parent. i guess what i'm trying to say is that this year, i would like to have resolve enough to accomplish something that i want to do, that i want to change about me. i'd like to be able to take a flaw and improve upon it.

you can collectively shut your mouths. yes, i just admitted i'm not perfect.

but it's not much of a resolution just to be more resolute. so as soon as i think of something that i'd like to improve upon, i'll let you know. no seriously, i'll think of something between now and monday night.

i promise.

(*ps - napoleon said that; i can't take credit for it.)

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