Did you make a resolution for 2021? I read somewhere that about half of Americans make one but only 8% are successful. A week into mine and I’m still going strong. “No news”, is my resolution for 2021. I thought it was going to be tougher, the news has been part of my life as far back as I can remember. Fourth grade, first period, middle school, Mr. Lambrecht – current events. My favorite; The Cubs win, Ernie Banks and Ron Santo both homer.
The domestication and indoctrination began much earlier, in 1st grade, with the duck and cover drills instituted by President Harry S. Truman. The fire drill would ring and we would head for the hallway and bury our head in the cubby, where we parked our goloches, to practice up for that fateful day when Russia would drop the big one. Even in first grade I recognized the futility of protecting myself from an atomic bomb by acting like an ostrich, but I digress.
I almost fell off the wagon a couple times in the first week of January but have managed to persevere. The scuttlebutt in D.C. made me want to scratch my itch but I didn’t. Then I heard somewhere in the midst of my day Thursday, that Congress had confirmed Biden as President and I thought about having a quick look but stayed strong. A week is not very long; on average it takes 9 or 10 weeks to integrate a new habit or behavior, I still have a long row to hoe.
Ancient Resolutions
The farthest back we can go in recorded history is about 4 thousand years, to ancient Babylon. Their Akitu festival lasted nearly two weeks, (I wonder if their resolutions outlived their merry making). They made promises to their Gods to pay their debts and return anything borrowed – resolutions.
Ancient Rome had similar celebrations a few millennia later when Caesar decided, while tinkering with the calendar, to move the celebration from Spring to Winter to honor their two-faced God, Janus. January 1st, 46 B.C. the first, 1st (Ancient government overreach – some things never change). The Romans made sacrifices to Janus, who looked both backwards and forwards. History suggests that we have been making resolutions and failing to follow through for over 4000 years. So don’t get too upset that you have already missed your appointment at the gym and it is not even the middle of January.
The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
News is not like smoking or drinking. It doesn’t cause cancer or destroy brain cells. They both require government mandated warning labels, the news doesn’t require a label. The assumption is that it is benign as far as our health is concerned, but is it? I determined that for me, it did more damage than good. It probably didn’t destroy any brain cells but it did make me feel sad, angry, dejected and several other adjectives, none of which correlate to happy, cheerful or fun. So I gave it up. I’m going to use the time and energy to study and practice a new skill. I’ll let you know how that works out in a future blog.
We are constantly being bombarded by one false narrative or another, they call it the news but it is really propaganda. It’s not new, it’s old. It has been almost 60 years since I was directed to duck into the hall cubby and cover my head, face buried in the rubbery scent of my golaches, and I’m still waiting for that fateful day when Russia will drop the big one.