Justin - Resolutions

I never thought much of the idea of resolutions;
Promising to be better to try harder,
Imagining a blank slate comes with the New Year-
 
It is like believing that your car becomes new again
As the odometer rolls one hundred thousand.
But it doesn’t.
 
Maybe it is the seeing the number roll that reminds you to take better care.
But then, wouldn’t the inspiration be your birthday rather than the New Year?
Would not a birthday be the mark of the odometer turning?
 
And if not, it seems that motivation for change could come as easily in February or March as on New Year’s Day,
Or inspired by some event like the prayers of bargaining offered up from the bathroom tile

while trying to survive you first hangover.

 
It also seems that resolutions can be too strict:
“I will go to the gym daily”
But daily means every day,
And once missing a day on January 14^th, you have failed for the year.
 
Or maybe too amorphous:
“I will do this more or that less.”
But you measure based on feelings:
“I feel I’ve done that more.”
There is no accounting.
 
And if the resolution is to be kinder or more compassionate,
To love more and be angry less,
Then what sort of person waits for January?
I think that maybe the best resolutions, if put off until New Year, already mark a failure.
If you don’t want to be a better person now, then you probably don’t really want to be a better person.
 
But then, I don’t think much of the idea of resolutions.