Do people still make New Year’s resolutions? I haven’t made one in years. Even back when I made them, they were pretty shallow. Rather than being kinder or gentler, they were about losing weight and nightly skin care, proving conclusively that, deep down, I’m pretty superficial. That puts me in the good company of Ava Gardner, who said it first.
So I’m sitting here at the computer, trying to gather my thoughts as we collectively move into 2026. They are decidedly muddled at this point, as I have less of a feeling of optimism than on any New Year’s Day in decades. I think it’s only fair that you know I walked into this year more with a whimper than a bang, although I was more than ready to get out of 2025 alive.
It is surely helpful to organize some of our aspirations and intentions into what I think of as a personal mantra. Some folks do it through prayer, some through meditation, and some through pilates. (I don’t know much about pilates other than they are some kind of exercise regimen, automatically disqualifying them from my mantra routine.)
For me, it’s what I repeat in my mind or out loud if I’m alone, in that sacred space and time right before I pull back the curtain at the end of my shower. I won’t give details, but it provides affirming words about who I am, who I want to be, and what I might say if someone ever had the gall to ask me, “Who the hell do you think you are?”
Then there’s the part that affirms some of the sources of personal power. A few of them are rather superficial, which should be no surprise to anyone who knows me at all. Yet I have observed that the world tends to treat us no better than we treat ourselves. There is, in fact, power in presentation, probably because the world is often as superficial as, say, Ava Gardner.
Then there’s the power that comes from being a lady or a gentleman, one that seems too much forgotten these days. We’re not talking about white gloves or pocket watches here, but rather the restfulness and the respect that seems to come to those who do know and like who the hell they are. Sometimes these rare creatures somewhat strangely treat others as they themselves wish to be treated. (There’s a rule in there somewhere.)
But that doesn’t mean that ladies and gentlemen roll over to bullies. To paraphrase a line from a country song that I heard a while back, sometimes it’s a bad day to act like a lady but a damn good day to be a bitch. And let’s tell the truth, haven’t most of us known some ladies who could be bitches back when being a bitch wasn’t cool?
Then I have my hackneyed expressions that I repeat to myself. There’s “elegance is refusal,” which is less about taking off one piece of jewelry before walking out the door and more to be remembered when contemplating the presence of cookies in the kitchen. Then “no good deed goes unpunished,” which should have a corollary that it wasn’t a particularly good deed in the first place if one has made practically everyone in Christendom aware of it. Finally, there’s “follow the numbers.” That’s my math nerd putting two cents in when I’m looking at everything from the latest polling to the weather forecast.
Then there are things that cross my radar that I jot down for potential use in one of these missives. Even though some of these have probably hit your own radar, they seem worthy of thoughtful consideration as we go into 2026.
- We need to worry less about artificial intelligence and more about natural stupidity.
- Getting older isn’t the problem; watching the world get dumber is.
- Consciousness isn’t evenly distributed.
- Don’t play chess with a chicken.
- There is no education in the second kicking of a mule.
To say that America today is not full of happy campers is an understatement, and the prospects for the coming year suggest that this condition is likely to continue. So instead of wishing everyone a “Happy New Year,” I’ll offer something more pragmatic and hopefully useful.
Here’s hoping that your 2026 is manageable and that you can get through it without committing a felony.
