Somewhere between the stuffing on Christmas Day and the dreadful wailing of “Auld Lang Syne” at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, the realization that I have yet again been wasting my time and talents hits me like a ton of fruit cakes.
If the pressure to buy the perfect gift for each one of my loved ones wasn’t hard enough this holiday season, knowing what’s best for me for the coming year isn’t that much easier to guess either, let alone accommodate.
By nature rather than nurture, I have always been a procrastinator — though I have always taken great pride in my accomplishments, however late they may have come — I know that this year must be different.
While not being lazy anymore seems like the ideal skeleton key to unlock my personal chest of potential, the inherit problem with being “lazy” is just that — I’m lazy.
Resolutions have become nothing more than little promises (or white lies) that we tell ourselves in hope that we will stop doing the things we know we shouldn’t do, and instead do what we know we should be doing. Giving up cigarettes, eating better and exercising more are easy variables to use, but for the first time in my life, I think that I might finally have the motivation I need to get off the proverbial couch that my life has become.
In a proactive attempt to better understand what the New Year might have in store for me, I watched Roland Emmerich’s 2009 film, aptly entitled “2012.” It’s arguably not the best resource, but fear of the unknown and ice cream have driven greater men to lesser acts.
While the accuracy of Emmerich’s film in relation to the Mayan calendar and its relevance to us in the 2lst century might be a little far-fetched, the message that time is of the essence and that we must all work together to overcome great trials and tribulations, rang loud and clear.
Making the right choices in life, regardless of a (possible) looming doomsday scenario in the coming year is a considerable burden in and of itself, having this year’s confetti fall around me — perhaps for the last time — the pressure and weight of it all seemed a little too bitter to chase with mere libation.
Maybe this is just like the great micro-ship scare of 1999, or maybe this is the countdown to end all countdowns. Either way, making the best of it, as best we can seems the only logical course of action.
The Mayans’ weren’t exactly clear on what will or won’t take place, but according to the film “2012,” unless you’re in the upper-upper 1 percent, the future is bleak — at best.
Life, by all definitions, is as rare as it is fragile. In many ways we’ve wasted most and squandered the rest. Good deeds have of course been done, too many to count even, but if we really want to see what we are capable of, we are going to have to find a way to live and work together, regardless of our differences.
If this is it, go out with a smile.
Reach the reporter at jbfortne@asu.edu
