16 December 2006
Resolutions?
I think New Year's resolutions are stupid. Why is it that people need a special day to start making their lives better? Why not just do it anyway? And what's more, most of the time the ideas are abandoned or neglected after a few days or weeks anyway. That being said, do any of you have plans for making resolutions for the first day of 2007 and what might they be? What resolutions have you made in the past that you've committed to or some that you may have given up on in the past?
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Right on for resolutions, Rachael!
They are as, indeed, as shallow or robust as any individual deems to make them (on New Years or any other day).
Doesn't it always come down to perspective? I mean, the grass IS greener on the other side...
...isn't it?!?
Like, for instance, one day before I boarded a plane for Australia I was sitting down at Penn's Landing on a nice, warm afternoon watching all of the people walk and the boats motor by with the Ben Franklin Bridge hanging overhead...
...wondering what it must be like to sit on the opposite side of the world doing the same (referencing sitting at Circular Quay and having the Sydney Harbour Bridge swinging overhead, of course). And, as if wondering about that was not enough, I wondered what I'd be thinking when (in another day) I'd be, in fact, sitting under the Sydney Harbour Bridge thinking about what others must be thinking about back in Philadelphia.
The conundrum makes me think of a funny, yet apropos, comic strip in which the first frame shows a few cows chomping some grass near a fence. The second frame shows the one cow eyeing up the grass on the other side...and sticking its neck through the fence to graze a bit on "the other side." Then, in the final frame, the cow (now munching the grass on the other side of the fence) notices the grass back on the side that it was on in the first place. Comically, of course, the cow twists its neck around a vertical post in the fence to start eating the grass it was originally eating on its side of the fence.
The objective reality (if such a thing actually exists) is that both experiences were exactly identical (both locations (in my experience...not the cow's) had a bridge-like structure with water nearby and people and boats moving about). However, subjectively, the novelty of being in Sydney (to me) was greater as it was new, different, and, as (at least in my own interpretation of) such, more exciting! Would sitting at Penn’s Landing (a very historical landmark in its own right) be just as thrilling for an Aussie if s/he had never been out of Australia and/or to Philadelphia before? My theory is that it is quite possible.
(Thank God for good old Philly cheesesteaks if not!)
So, to get back to your question of resolutions (in a longwinded and roundabout fashion (sorry)), I question whether resolutions are nothing more than socially-induced, perspective-based attempts at making inroads to our own personal "betterment" (as you say) that are significantly inspired and/or fueled by the fact that our previous year's exploits (and/or failures) have finally reached a critical and/or culminating point that we are no longer willing to tolerate.
I guess my position on (or hypothesis of) such might be likened to one's physical growth (in that if one were to take daily inventory of how tall s/he was, one would probably not notice how much s/he has grown over a day...whereas if one were to stop and take inventory of her/his growth at the end of the year, one may be more startled by what s/he records).
I am a believer, like you, that personal inventories should be taken more frequently than once a year; however, if you take a look at many of the “shoulds” in life, there seems to be a dark and sinister history of paths never (or very infrequently) taken. Idealistically speaking, hunger, crime, love, altruism, and the rest of the gamut of “good” things seem to continually lie in waiting while the other more sensational vices seem to garner more of our individual and/or social attention. I guess my rebuttal to your pointed question is: I guess it’s better to have one socially contrived point in time once a year that we are more “forced” to take a good, hard look at our lives than to have our own self-betterment scale be so socially deregulated. Without New Years, I fear that many might never stop long enough to look around and/or take stock of where they are, where they've been, and where they're going (which is probably the case for the growing majority rather than the shrinking minority of the (at least American) populace).
Like my trip to Australia, I'm sure that the pilot(s) of that massive jet were "taking stock" of their relative position to Sydney during the entire flight (thank goodness, of course)...or else I might be writing to you from some other location in another part of the world. If the pilot(s) had waited until they were close to Sydney to “look around” and/or make an assessment, things may not have turned out as positive as they did (as it’s amazing how just a slight air current can alter the course of a jumbo jet airliner). So, despite your proposition that more frequent checks may be the way to go (which I do, wholeheartedly agree), I do also take the position that the old adage, “better late than never” may have a solid and important tone to be heard when the bells finally and/or inevitably toll the passing of our current and ring in the coming of a brand-new year.
Thanks for letting me post to your site (and I hope my response was not inappropriate). If it was, I'm sure you have the "power" of delete (kind of like Big Brother in 1984 where one can actually re-write the past to delete those things not deemed necessary, important, and/or supportive to "the cause").
Well, that's it from this side of the world (actually back in Philadelphia (or will be tonight)). Since I am not a "blogger", I have no site for you to respond to; however, you can always e-mail me at:
sunday_stranger@yahoo.com
Have a great end of 2006 and a fantastic 2007! Keep up the great work and tell Pippi Longstocking (Nicole Holderman (a supposed teammate of yours from The Jay Buhner Fan Club)) that an old LCCC volleyball friend of hers says "hello!"
All the very and most sincere best!
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