New Years Musings

I don't make New Years resolutions. Not my type of thing. But I do, however, want to share a few tidbits that I've come to appreciate over the course of a year.

We are masters of our own destiny.
You can call it existentialism, you can call it "God helps those who help themselves," or you can call it common sense. The fact is, I don't believe in sitting around waiting for change. Change what you can and gain perspective on the things that can't be changed. "Yes We Can," is so much more constructive than, "It's everyone else's fault."

People aren't perfect, but they're also not disposable.
Nothing like the holidays and family to remind you of that.

Personal preference and universal truth are NOT the same thing.
I believe the older we get, the more we realize this (hopefully.) Few things are universally true. A foray into ethics or law makes that glaringly apparent. For example, there are the Hillary Clintons of the world. Then there are also the Joan Brandwyns of the world (in Mona Lisa Smile):

Joan Brandwyn: Do you think I'll wake up one morning and regret not being a lawyer?
Katherine Watson: Yes, I'm afraid that you will.
Joan Brandwyn: Not as much as I regret not having a family, not being there to raise them. I know exactly what I'm doing and it doesn't make me any less smart.
Joan Brandwyn: This must seem terrible to you.
Katherine Watson: I didn't say that.
Joan Brandwyn: Sure you did. You always do. You stand in class and tell us to look beyond the image, but you don't. To you a housewife is someone who sold her soul for a center hall colonial. She has no depth, no intellect, no interests. You're the one who said I could do anything I wanted. This is what I want.

Lastly, I've really come to appreciate the importance of balance in life. Work-play, boyfriend-friends, conservative-liberal, self-others, sympathy-objectivity, etc. Life is like a Hegelian dialectic, isn't it? :o)