Choices

Choices

My Pen Mates,

It's 2009! A new year, another celebration of time's inexorable march to eternity... Funny in a sense since a calendar year is supposed to mark one complete revolution of the earth around the sun. Which means what? It's a measure of time relative to distance, universally accepted as a basis for human activity and to understand the change of seasons. Yet other than serving as a reference to coordinate functions over an extended period of time, a new year seem just a dressed up celebration of the setting and rising of the sun. We just choose to mark larger measures of the cycle in the same manner that we measure quantities of liquid, weight, height, etc. We intake water by the cup, yet it's important to some to know how much drinking water there is in a dam. In a holistic sense, one can justify such necessity; in practical applications, such detail may be deemed superfluous.

I guess it comes down to what we choose to pay attention to... There will be among us who will devote their attention to the mega stuff and those who cannot be bothered by it. Whatever our focus, we learn to justify it; it's essential to maintaining a relationship to provide a rationale for the way we think or at least an excuse for doing what we do. When we don't share an appreciation of this dynamic, our differences are magnified and a general acceptance of system failure is necessary to maintain distanced harmony. We call this tolerance, I say it is the time between sunrises and sunsets.

So here are my choices for 2009: I will bask in the sunshine during the day, and dream sweet dreams at night. I will retreat from the drama of defining differences and work with extreme focus on being productive while staying in the middle ground. More specifically, I will mind my own business and pay less attention to gossip, character assassination, and activities that waste time__ especially if that means spending time trying to understand someone or yearning to be understood.

The relationships I currently treasure can only be added to, for I will avoid finding reasons to subtract. This will be a year of harmony, not from avoidance, but through simplicity. The only explaining I wish to engage in is when I reason with my children. I'll change to be simple. That's my choice.

Mon