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DECK US ALL WITH HUNKS OF JOLLY
Way back in golden days of yore, we who populate this particular species would make what we still call New Year’s Resolutions.
Some of us still do this. I list the things I want to change in my daily life, then proceed with the difficult task of living up to those aspirations.
It seldom takes much time for me to own up to the horrifying fact that changing myself for the better will require…Effort.
Effort?
Effort!
If I want to decrease my dietary intake and acquire a sleek body, why can’t I just push a button, employ an app or take a pill?
Effort is so…efforty.
Making a New Year’s Resolution always ends in the same dead-end manner. I slowly sink back into the morass of habit and sloth and narcissism and comfort that has always misdirected my Activities of Daily Living.
It is with ease that I resume being whoever it is that I am. My resolve quietly evaporates.
A month from now, I will awaken to the fact that once upon a time, just days ago, I resolved to be a better, healthier, nice person…and thus be adored even more by family and associates.
Now I will have to face the fact that Things are as they are and have been and will be.
As Popeye reminds me, I yam what I yam and that’s what I yam.
Whatever it is that I am today and down all the upcoming days is what I will continue to deal with.
Folks who like me the way I am have no outward complaints.
Folks who wish I would change for the better just throw up their hands and decide whether to accept me or obfuscate the memory of me.
Folks who accept me as the me they will always know will be polite enough to continue humoring me and dealing with me.
How dare I ask for more?
On my best days I am rather jolly and energetic and bedecked with goodwill toward other folks of goodwill. On my bad days, I just stuff it and present my best side to you, because why would I be so selfish as to visit my mood upon you?
Probably the best I can do.
Maybe I should at least try.
Here’s a possible Resolution to experiment with:
I’ll try to understand you as who you are. And if you try to understand me as who I am, things might be hunky-dory for a while.
String enough of those whiles together and you and I can come up with a pretty good life and a bunch of hunky-dories to share.
Happy Every Day of Your Life, Y’all
© 2018 A.D. by Jim Reed