May old acquaintance be forgot...

Newness. Our country is obsessed with it. Maybe any culture that gets a whiff of newness learns a deep greed for it. I don't know. What I do know is that we worship the stuff--new cars, new Hollywood stars, new love interests, new toys, new restaurants, new flavors of soda, New Years. It is as if the passing of a calendar offers change, as if the thrill of a country putting on silly hats and standing outside in freezing clumps will bring about something different, something better, something NEW.

There's nothing wrong with newness. Some of us are waiting for the day when all things will be made new.

However, this year I'm going to spend a little more time paying attention to the trend I'm already on, one that didn't begin with a 1/1 or a Ready? Set? Go! It's the path that my interests and dreams and attitudes have put me on, and it's the one I'm likely to settle back into when all the festivities have ended. The real question is--is this the path I want to be on? Am I feeling accomplished and productive? Or am I feeling "My life is half-way through and I still haven't done what I'm here to do" (Matt Johnson, The The). Either way, it gives me a sense of ownership, or at least loanership, of myself, and the feeling that dreams are actually worth remembering, because if you hammer at them enough, they really will take shape.

I'm Andy Rooney. Good Night...