OPINION - EDITORIAL

A fresh start

Happy birthday, 2019!

THIS IS A DAY of starting over. As if hope smiles on each Jan. 1, whispering, "It will be happier."

There will be many resolutions made, and for good reason. Today is a kind of secular Easter, because it's a chance for renewal. And what better person to renew than ourselves? Some of us will vow to go to church more often, starting this coming Sunday, and a fitting resolution that is. Today, people all over the land will stop smoking. For now. They're going to lose weight. Starting after the holidays. They're going to eat more fish. After today's cabbage and black-eyed peas are finished off. (All of mama's recipes for cabbage or black-eyed peas call for massive amounts of pork.)

Tomorrow, the gym will be full. People don't want to just lose weight, but feel better. And nobody feels bad after a good sweat on a stationary bike.

You can almost hear pens scratching the hopes and dreams for 2019. We're going to save $200 a month for that trip next year. And take a Spanish class at the local community college. And limit the caffeine to just two cups in the morning.

But folks, there is a thing such as addition by subtraction.

Here are some things, and people, to not think about this year. We'd recommend writing your own list, but that would only remind you of what's verboten every time you pass the fridge. We left off presidential candidates because you're an American, and we think somewhere in the Constitution it's written that Americans "shall talk about Candidates for high politicial Office in the several states from time to time during every Year, election or no."

But how much better this year would be, how much happier, if we all just forgot:

The Jenners and Kardashians. That Bieber kid. Matt Lauer. Hillary Clinton. (Oh, come on, she can't be a presidential candidate again.) Roseanne Barr. Kanye West. Charlie Sheen. Shia LaBeouf. Woody Allen. Lena Dunham. Amy Schumer. Russell Crowe. (That last one, maybe we've already forgotten.)

Ann Coulter. Jimmy Kimmel. Rush Limbaugh. Rosie O'Donnell. Bill O'Reilly. Jesse Jackson. (These folks have made this list more'n one year.)

Nancy Pelosi. Chuck Schumer. Barack Obama. Newt Gingrich. Sean Hannity. (Unless they say something uproariously stupid. Then make jokes.)

Dez Bryant. Richard Sherman. Conor McGregor. Bubba Watson. Roger Goodell.

Annoying fans of the Dave Matthews Band. Annoying fans of Ariana Grande. Annoying fans of The Beatles who argue that the band is better than The Rolling Stones. Annoying fans of The Rolling Stones who argue that the band is better than The Beatles.

People who think that meringue is better than whipped cream. People who don't like olives in their pea salad. People who put sugar in their cornbread.

Now that the subtractions have been made, some addtions. Let's think more about:

Malala Yousafzai. Queen Elizabeth. Pope Francis.

Melania Trump. Nikki Haley. (Gosh, but there are so few admirable people in that city.)

Gal Gadot. Tom Hanks. Bill Murray. (Gosh, but there are so few admirable people in that city.)

Serena Williams. LeBron James. Drew Brees.

People who drive the children's bus to church. People who adopt or foster young kids and teens. Politicians who do the right thing, when nobody's looking. People who make real homemade meals to bring to the neighbors after somebody has died. People who still send hand-written letters. People who get wrong number calls on their cells phones at inconvenient times but who strike up a conversation anyway, because, why, this is The South.

People who read newspapers. Because the nation needs an informed citizenry.

Upon a birthday: if this life of ours

Be a good glad thing, why should we make us merry

Because a year of it is gone? but Hope

Smiles from the threshold of the year to come

Whispering 'It will be happier.'

--Alfred Lloyd Tennyson

Happy new year, Gentle Reader. As the Irish say, may the saddest day of your future be no worse than the happiest day of your past.

Now, where are those black-eyed peas?

Editorial on 01/01/2019

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