Street Sweep

I love New Years' resolutions.  It's true.  I'm not ashamed to say it.  It's hard for me to understand why they get such a bad rap, I literally cringe every time I hear people complain or criticize about resolutions.  It just makes me think that those people have not yet discovered the true beauty of New Years' resolutions because they focus on ones like losing weight or saving money or anything that they don't want to do but feel they should.  I am a firm believer that resolutions should always be things you desperately want to do.  They can be easy, they can be hard, they can be funny, they can even be losing weight - but they always have to come from wanting, not from should-ing.

For example, I desperately want to read the entire dictionary in the year 2009.  So far, it's been awesome (adj. 1. inspiring awe: an awesome sight. 2. characterized by awe. -awe'some-ly, adv. -awe'some-ness, n.)  Have you ever read the definition for the word "a"?  It's incredible.  In the Random House Dictionary of the English Language(college edition) there are 19 separate entries for the word "a" with 56 separate definitions within those entries!  It can be a noun and an article and a preposition and a symbol and a couple other things I don't really understand.  Do you know that "a" can mean both "one" and "every"?  And it can mean something different in physics, the metric system, chemistry, Old English, music, and that's just the beginning.  Say it twice and it's a basaltic lava (or you might be redirected to Alcoholics Anonymous, take your pick).  Reading this one definition threw my mind into all sorts of analogies and possibilities for future sacrament talks, pep talks, and yes, blog posts.  If I had known that this one little word carried so much power behind it, I would have been treating it with more respect all these years.  I can't wait to read the definition for "the".

You might be thinking that anyone who can get this excited about reading the dictionary needs to look up the word "psychopath" and take it to heart.  I, however, am feeling a deep satisfaction from knowing that I might be one of only a handful of people on earth to have ever taken the time to read the definition for "a" and actually learned something from it.  And you know what?  It feels great.  Which is why I love New Years' resolutions.  Could I have just as happy of a life without reading the dictionary?  Yes.  Would I want to live my life without reading the dictionary?  Not now.  That, my friend, is the power of a good resolution.