Great Un-expectations

My New Year’s Resolutions

This time of year breeds dishonesty. While we make promises and vows to ourselves and others in the form of “resolutions”, deep down we know there is a snowball’s chance in Saudi Arabia that you’ll be able to live up to your well-intentioned attempt to better yourself. I happen to love making New Year’s Resolutions because during the month of January I get to see what it would be like to live in a perpetual state of optimism. The sky is the limit till about Groundhog’s Day when that little rat sees his shadow and winter lasts till Memorial Day and things can get back to there regular, self-doubting ways.

First, as most admit at this time each year, my eating/exercising regiment is something left to be desired. Healthy body, healthy mind. When I hear that states like New York are now banning trans-fats, I am overwhelmed with a sense of resentment. Don’t eat them! I know better than most that bad food and non-existent exercise leads to love handles. I don’t need the government to tell me that, and I don’t want the government telling me I cannot have my KFC fully loaded with every known trans-fat the Colonel can get his greasy, fat fingers on.

I plan on writing a book someday entitled, Just Don’t. Smoking is unhealthy? Just don’t buy those Parliaments. People killed by not wearing a seat belt? Just don’t forget to put it on. Fatty foods give you heart disease? Just don’t cram as many Hardee’s Thick Burgers down your chubby pie-hole. The book could dismember the entire liberal social agenda piece by piece with a refusal to let emotions dominate my thinking and embracing the age-old, time-tested, reliable idea called “common sense”.

However, my resolution is to get in better shape so I will be one less stat that will help Liberal disingenuous legislation that does little more than help know-it-all Democratic politicians sleep better at night knowing that they, in their immense wisdom, had the wherewithal to save me from myself. I can do this by running a mile for every hour spent watching Anderson Cooper 360 and replacing bacon-wrapped steaks with leafy greens. (I hear they make them bacteria free in California. Gordita, anyone?)

Second, I want to stop taking my life for granted as much as I do now. A letter or email to a soldier in Iraq thanking them for their service. Serving food in a Soup Kitchen to people who don’t really worry about the trans-fat content. Working hard on my schoolwork not only to better myself, but also to show appreciation to all the people who have aided and provided me with the means to attend Graduate School. Not “blowing a gasket” when the line at the bank is too long or when the elderly woman with 11 cans of cat food steps in front of my in the “10 Items or Less” line at Dominick’s.

My life, as are most of yours, is pretty great. Life in a free country where I can achieve success not based solely on who my parents were, but who I am. Freedom to be a Christian and go to church when believers in other parts of the world are forced underground to simply read Scripture. Friends and family who care for and inspire me everyday. Life is good and I need to stop acting like everyone has the advantages I do. There are always people who have it better, and many who have it worse, but the real task in life is to find joy and contentment in the exact circumstances you find yourself in everyday.

Third, I want to read more. Reading was my passion when I was a kid. I know it is what enabled me to coast through much of high school and college. I squandered a lot of chances I’ve had along the way, but those early years of reading are what kept me afloat. Not until my junior year of college did I realize what a gift reading, and along with it, knowledge, truly is. It opens the eyes and mind to new perspectives and hones the skill of critical thinking everyone needs throughout life to succeed. (Below is a recommended reading list from yours truly)

Fourth, I need to work on being an honest person. Even when it hurts, the truth shall set you free. What a load off my shoulders it is when I finally come clean with someone I’ve been holding out on. The best way to avoid those awkward conversations in the first place is to let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no”…you get the idea. Character, or lack thereof, is directly linked to the honesty and integrity one possesses. How can I hope to be the kind of man I want to be or offer insight/perspective on political and social issues with out telling the truth?

So, I guess you could say this resolution involves you the reader as well. I resolve to continue sharing the honest truth, as best I know it, in my writing. While these postings are my thoughts and perspectives, I totally and fully believe in my heart of hearts that I am correct in my core conservative beliefs. But, even if you agree with someone and have it in the back of your head that he is less than trustworthy, you cannot help but lose some faith in what that person has to say.

Fifth, and lastly, I resolve to be nicer to Democrats and even (gasp) liberals. Don’t worry; I haven’t lost my mind in Obama-fever. In fact, I’ve never been more confident that it will be conservative values that continue to lead this blessed nation forward. In two years Pelosi and the gang will be back to their appropriate rank of “minority” leaders in Congress. It was not Democrats and liberals who lost the election for Republicans and conservative. We did it to ourselves. This means we can also win it back, and soon.

I disagree with basically everything the liberal school of thought stands for, but they are still Americans and humans and worthy of courtesy and respect (no matter how little of each is typically returned). This does not mean I will not speak my mind and maybe even get angry at their stupidity and self-defeating lack of logic and reasoning in any and all of their arguments. Their attempts to undermine the Judeo-Christian values that formed this great nation will continue to be met with my legendary wit and sarcasm. But, I’ll try to be nicer when I do it (even on “Opposite Day”).

I may have just broken my fifth resolution in that last paragraph so I will leave you with words from someone much more eloquent than I (before I go eat a Cliff Huxtable-esque hoagie, play Spider Solitaire instead of reading a Milton Friedman book on Economic policies of the 20th Century, and under-appreciate my family somehow). Ronald Reagan knew a thing or two about character, integrity, and peace making (through strength). Here are some of his own words to see you off into a new year.

“The ultimate determinant in the struggle now going on for the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas-a trial of spiritual resolve: the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish and the ideals to which we are dedicated.”

Good luck with your own resolutions and thanks a lot for helping this want-to-be commentator get his start and begin to hone his craft. Happy New Year!



Robby’s Recommended Reading for January
When Character Was King by: Peggy Noonan
Treason by: Ann Coulter
Mere Christianity by: C.S. Lewis
Liberalism is a Mental Disorder by: Michael Savage
1776 by: David McCullough