Saturday, January 3, 2009

All signs point toward goodness

I went in to Dakota Boys Ranch Thrift Store today, and a scraggly looking, mentally disabled woman walked in just after me. She screamed -- screamed! --, "HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!" Those of us in the store, mostly Scandinavian I suppose, turned abruptly toward the voice and were ready to put on our "we only judge strangers; we don't TALK to them" scowls when we saw that she was, indeed, scraggly and mentally disabled. Somehow, this helped us quickly decide, at once, to echo her exuberance. "Happy New Year!" we cried amongst yellow rotary phones and crystal decanters.

This is just one of the confirmations I've received so far, pointing to a good '09. If you know me, you know my tendency for optimism, so I offer proof, realizing that most who know me always ask for it.

First of all, there has been an awful lot of snow. This could have been a bad thing, if I were a trucker or one of those medical workers, like my student, who was forced to stay at the hospital for over 36 hours to make sure there was enough staff to cover the needs of the place. I, however, have chosen a usually-delightful career in higher education, which meant that after I got home from visiting my family in the Cities, I didn't have to do anything or go anywhere at all. I had friends visit me. Todd and I stayed in our pajamas for almost two whole days, drinking coffee, watching movies, sitting on the couch under blankets, dreaming up elaborate summer plans. I watched Ramona blaze deep and narrow trails in our backyard, tunneling her snout beneath the snow to pull up her now-stuffingless toy trout. There's a bird living in our garage, too, and when I did have to leave the house once, she sang for me, a little bit of spring.

So, very simply, the first good thing I've found out about '09 is that I have a happy house to call my own. Barring total tragedy, this fact isn't endangered, which is something I haven't been hearing about on the news.

There have been a lot of little things that show me I'm off to a good start: my family had a safe, peaceful, and happy-memory-filled holiday. I got to hear both of Art Bell's annual New Year Predictions radio shows! He doesn't host Coast-to-Coast AM anymore; he doesn't screen his callers, and I usually fall asleep before the show even really gets going, so this is a bigger deal to me than most of you can realize. (If you DO realize this, you've already done something great for our friendship.) I found an adapter that allows me to upload pictures to my blog, and it only cost $15. I've read 50 pages of a science-fiction novel, which means I've already done something that frightens me -- check one off the New Year's Resolutions list! And, I've been able to listen, loudly and closely, to my ever-blossoming vinyl collection. I think I'm starting to hear the subtle depth of sound-quality all my music-nerd friends have been telling me about, which is exciting -- as if I'm improving one of my innate senses.

Every year I resolve to be a good, happy, well-grounded and kind person. I know that's vague and cheesy, and it sounds realistically impossible to gauge. As I already mentioned, I'm an optimist by nature, so I can put a smile on a skull, ignoring all the facts. However, these ideals do help me ask the right questions before I do most anything. Making this yearly resolution reminds me to continue with mindfulness. Can I be proud of this decision, this work, this expression, this assumption? If I do this, don't do this, consider this, expect this, want this -- could I regret it? These are useful questions and too often ignored, I think. Though I say, "I" in all of these questions, the questions themselves recognize that "I" am (is?) defined in terms of so many who are affected by and who affect me.

I saw the movie "Doubt" this week. It's a good movie, but it was made even more good, in my mind, because of a bit of dialog spoken by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who played a priest accused of having "improper" relations with a young altar boy at his parish. Ignoring these circumstances, the dialog (paraphrased) conveys the idea that kindness is, that it should be, something of value, despite those who tell us that it shamefully shows weakness and vulnerability. To be kind, to want to do good, to want to change another's life positively, to help, to try to understand -- these, too, can be indicators of success.

So, having noticed so many good things in these three days of '09, I expect nothing more than for the trend to continue. I hope the year is treating you kindly, as well.

1 comment:

Jennifer said...

I knew you could blog again. I knew it. Good job, Crystal. I'm very proud.