Finneran: Be it Hereby Resolved
Friday, January 01, 2016
She’s going to open a business called “Resolutions." For the first two weeks of the year it will be a gym. For the rest of the year it will be a barroom. How perfect! Doesn’t that capture the reality of New Year’s resolutions? We start off with great intentions and determination and then we become fallen men.
Now before we bid our final farewell to 2015, I offer a few thoughts—
The year passed swiftly. Perhaps that’s a function of my age but the year seemed to race by. The only lull in the supersonic passage of 2015 occurred over the past ten days. I now believe that Christmas should always be on a Friday, giving people the excuse to lay down their tools on Tuesday and completely blow off the world for the next several days.
Of course none of the outright pursuit of lazy pleasures would be possible without those who show up for real work, hard work, indeed urgent work every single day---police officers, firefighters, EMTs, doctors, nurses, soldiers, and sailors. Offer a prayer of safety and thanks for all of them.
The past year was depressing for anyone who follows college campus trends. Such stunning ignorance is hard to imagine. Such onion-skinned sensitivities to perceived slights, such discernment of utterly invisible, totally imagined things does not bode well for America. What the hell is a “micro-aggression”? Or a “safe space” from opinions and ideas. Or “cultural appropriation”? The nation awaits a college dean who masters and utters six simple words to campus brats and bullies—
“Drop dead. Grow up. You’re expelled.”
The year produced the usual mixed bag of human affairs including great progress on disease, hunger, poverty, and energy. Yet the world also regressed in terms of political violence, religious persecution, terrorism, and the too frequent triumph of wishful thinking.
We are told that America has become fearful, frightened by mindless terrorism, almost panic-stricken in their daily routines. I disagree. Americans are not panic-stricken. Rather they are rightfully angry. Angry at a horribly biased media, angry about euphemistic descriptions of serious problems, angry at loose charges of racism and bigotry, angry at political correctness run amok. Stay tuned as the candidates dance between the landmines.
A final thought on 2015---any year that the nation loses a Yogi Berra is not a good year.
Onward we go to 2016.
Appreciate the candidates, all of them, even the most manic. It’s an exhausting task for them. But it adds to the stew of ideas for us. The effort is all theirs, even the phoniest of the bunch. The duty however is ours---to listen, to learn, and to choose.
Pray for the restoration of Congress as an equal branch to the executive and the judiciary. The requisite balancing role of Congress has been badly diminished over several decades. Party orthodoxy and discipline robs us of independent thought. I’d much prefer the individual judgements of Congressmen Lynch, Neal, Keating, Kennedy, McGovern, Capuano, and others to the poll-tested consultant driven fiats of strangers who cannot find Route 128. I want the old thoughtful, independent, jealous Congress back where it belongs---right in the middle of the arena, making the President and the courts pay attention. Just ask John Adams.
Back to plans and resolutions for the New Year:
I want to read more, think more, write more, and criticize less. I want to be a better father, husband, grandfather, and friend. A better neighbor too. I want to concentrate some effort on physical, mental, and spiritual health. I will read the Bible in its entirety. I have postponed that far too long.
Finally, I want to wish you good health and great happiness in the year ahead. Godspeed.
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