My New Year’s Resolution

My New Year’s Resolution

Let me begin by saying I will not be giving the typical New Year’s resolution that most espouse.

That’s because I do not really feel the need to change.

Not that I can’t be better.

And not that I think I couldn’t be smarter, or richer, or more handsome.

I just think there’s something better to attain.

Being more me.

Allow me to explain.

If someone were to tell me, “You should write more uplifting articles.”

What do I say in the way of a ‘New-Yearsy’ reply?

“I’ll try to do more on cute puppy and baby stories?”

I could, but I’m not around puppies or babies much these days.

So do I just lie and let it stay there?

Because that’s what I would be doing.

No. I stay true to myself and write what I feel…because if a writer plies his or her trade without a point of view, what they produce is worthless.

I would be like the person who uses ‘medical marijuana,’ and refuses to own up to the fact that he/she is a drug addict.

In point of fact, I’m still waiting for the ‘medical alcohol’, ‘medical cocaine’, ‘medical barbiturates’ and the ‘medical opiate’ train to arrive at the station next.

That’s all a lie too, but it makes the users feel better because society has ‘enabled’ their dependency. We just don’t understand them, you see.

Bilge. It’s all self-delusion.

Like rich liberals who live in gated communities with armed guards surrounding their barricaded estates, watchdogs patrolling, alarms primed and at the ready to explode in fury if so much as a little gray mouse steps out on a manicured lawn and trips a sensor.

It would be like World War III had arrived in such a case.

Only, don’t look for those same liberals to support a secure border to keep the rest of us safe, like them.

Oh, the hypocrisy.

Or take other things in society, like legalized gambling.

Talk about your sacred cow! You mean I would dare mention this in West Memphis?

Two things: First, everyone was told that all the money these gambling interests would bring in would make our taxes go down.

Fact: My taxes have never gone down.

Fact: My taxes have never stayed the same.

Fact: My taxes go up every year, regardless of the income the gambling racket takes in due to the largess of Arkansas politicians.

So, who’s desk is the money sliding across?

Certainly not mine.

Secondly: I hear now and then, like the piping of a little bird, from people who don’t really believe it: “Oh, gambling pays for student scholarships.”

Only, here’s the thing. I don’t know anyone in the community, in my church, at work, or the children of any of my friends or family who has ever gotten a scholarship due to the dog track.

Matter of fact, I don’t know anyone who knows anyone… who knows anyone… who knows anyone… who knows anyone… who ever got such a scholarship.

Now, I’m not naïve enough to think that there won’t be some person who will read this article in the newspaper and then pop up, raise their hand and declare, “Oh, my child got one.”

Well, congratulations.

You won the lottery-and if there are so few of them that they only come onein- a-million, at what cost to society? How about all those that lost money gambling and the ruin it brought to them and their families. But you…your kid is now the poster child for legalized gambling.

Again, congratulations.

But remember, even a broken clock is right two times a day.

Gambling good for the community? It’s all just a big lie.

But, getting back to my main point…that’s exactly what a New Year’s resolution should not be about.

It should not be about making yourself out to be what you are not: a more superficial svelte you, or a new-and-improved robot that resembles you.

Don’t try to be what you are not.

It would be much more satisfying if you were just more you.

Support your causeswhatever they may be.

Care about what you care about more deeply. Enjoy the unique journey that you are on. Sit back, relax. Hypocrisy is for others. But for you…know the truth, and yes, the truth shall make you free indeed.

Robert L. Hall is a resident of Marion and has a Bachelor’s Degree in music from the University of Memphis and a Master’s Degree from Florida State University. He is the pianist for Avondale Baptist Church and a writer of fiction on Amazon eBooks.

By Robert L. Hall