No resolutions for me, well, sort of!

Now that 2018 has started, I am hearing less about what New Year resoltions I plan on maknig and instead am being asked what resolutions of those made I think I can keep.

The anwer in both instances is no.

There have been no resolutions. There won’t be any. Therefore there is nothing to review.

I fail to see why I should wait an entire year to correct things in my world that need changing now, in whatever month I happen to be in, whether it be January or July.

What I can identify are those things which, if kept to, can make me a better person and a better neighbor. I just don’t want them to be pigeonholed. And if I fail in keeping to these I shall not have to wait an entire year to get back on the saddle of the horse that threw me. I can begin immediately to change that which ought to be changed.

One of the better ways to remain a person I can be proud to be is by making sure I pay good and close attention to the people, places and things within my world, recognizing the good for what they are in particular.

An example is keeping the child-like appreciation I have for the community I live in, and for the resources we are surrounded by.

Immediately outside my back door is a wonder-world of mud, grass and water. It is home to creatures that are magnificent, if I take the time to stop and notice them.

On any given day, depending on the weather, I can be treated to the sight of an alligator swimming in the bayou, a snake or two engaging in a hunt, and a kingfisher lording over it all.

Sometimes – but only on the luckiest of winter days – the pelicans appear, having moved way up the bayou to protect themselve agains the ravages of inclement weather.

Lizards provide a free show of puffing and posturing on the front and back porch, and if I look close enough up in the sky, taking the time to differentiate, I can be treated to the sight of an American bald eagle.

All of this, right outside of my house in Bourg, Louisiana!

How many of us, rushed as we are by family an work responsibilities, don’t take the time to do this type of inventory?

I shall confess that I don’t do it near as much as I should.

And what a shame for me when that is the case, because if I don’t take the time to appreciate what is immediately outside my door, how can I expect to appreciate things that are farther away?

Beauty is that which is determined such by the beholder.

In this sense, I can’t think of a better goal than keeping enough serenity about me to appreciate what the world has presented as gifts for my eyes and my imagination.

And so if there are resolutions to be made – and you already know of my reluctance – let them for me be these guides to better consciousness, which in the long run means a better life.

So here’s wishing to everyone the very best of things for this coming year, and the hope that we’ll all be around to talk about it when it’s over. But most of all here is wishing you the ability to see the beauty right in front of you, before you even think about having to find it somewhere else.

Now that we’ve worked with the flora and fauna let’s focus our attention on vessels or things that look like the marine environment we live in that is created by man. As the economy continues to slump maybe we should ust focus more steadily on that unused, out of work piece of equipment that if operating would mean a job for more than one person.

Maybe if I try hard I can interpret the majesty inherent to a tug that is traveling on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, guiding a barge full of coal or maybe salt, and again representing the work which people need so much.

Yes, these are my resolutions. I wish for them to be renewed every single day, because that is how the beauty of what is around can best be appreciated, on a daily basis, appearing as something new and seen for the very first time.

No resolutions for me, well, sort of!