I'm only sleeping

Yesterday was January 1, 2021. It also was also the eighth straight time I did not stay up to greet the new Year. 

Why do I think this? Because it first happened when 2012 became 2013. I did that consciously in homage to America's teenager, Dick Clark. He had helped us greet the new year for, well, many new years, but had passed away in April 2012. So I made up my mind not to greet 2013 without him.

Since then I've thought,  I don't need to stay up simply to hear my fellow Detroiters strafing the sky with their errant bullets. What really is the point in that?

I look forward to the new year every new year. But I need my sleep (ok, I just want it), and waking up at three AM with the first thought, hey, it's a new year, ain't a bad way to greet it.

Happy 2020

I suppose I should say Happy New Year. So, okay, Happy New Year.

Kidding aside, I mean that quite sincerely. May 2020, and I intend that in the sense of the entire year and not simply the one month, be a great one for all who read this. As they once said on Hee Haw (yes, the corny country TV show) 'May your pleasures by many, your troubles be few'.

And that I do most emphatically mean. Have a great 2020 everyone.

For 2015, stop worrying so much

Now that we're into 2015, we are also obviously into the expected norms which a blank slate supposedly offers. We get a clean, fresh start. So in the spirit of things, let's talk about the New Year's resolutions which we're supposed to indulge in as part of the self cleansing process. In fact, let' start with a big one, perhaps the big one: let's stop worrying so much!

An article in this morning's version of AOL (does anyone say America On Line anymore?), found here: http://www.aol.com/article/2015/01/01/bad-luck-to-blame-for-two-thirds-of-cancer-cases/21123411/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl18%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D592102 asserts that most cancers are simply bad luck. Given that most first heart attacks are fatal (the heart just poops out for whatever reason) we wonder if, perhaps, we're worrying about our health a bit too much. Not that we shouldn't do what we can to become and stay healthy, of course. But the point is, why fret it too much if much of it is beyond our control anyway?

But it's more than health issues which cause us fear. We worry about coping with high gas prices, for example, then worry that low gas prices are bad too (see here: http://www.ktre.com/clip/10816466/low-gas-prices-could-be-bad-for-economy ). We worry about the need for alternative energy but then worry about the alternatives (wind power is bad for the birds, for example, as they might be hurt in the windmill blades while making for a bad vacation photograph). We worry about terrorists and terrorism even though such horrid things are truly beyond our personal control. And so on and so forth.

Maybe for 2015 we should vow to deal with only what we can control while leaving everything else to whatever forces control them. This isn't to say ignore all the rest: you should still exercise, eat right, and vote well on local and national issues. Go ahead and pen that letter to the editor but remember that it will likely fall on either deaf or partisan ears with no huge effect. But do what you need to do for you and yours and let the rest happen as it may. We wonder if you will be all the happier for it. So long, that is, as you strive to be the best person which rational analysis demands. Isn't that what it's all about, really?

Now go out and have a productive 2015.