Friday, January 1, 2016

WELCOME TO 2016

“Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.” 
 
- Oprah Winfrey

Seeing that quote from Oprah reminded me of what I wrote here back on January 1, 2014:

My personal mantra is one I shameless appropriated from the title of a fine book by Andrew Vachss on the potential of parenting.  In a sense, I am my own parent and the best advice I can give myself is to treat each new year, each new day, as another blessed chance to get it right.

For me, getting it right means that I do my work with clean heart and hands.  That I show my love for those I love and do whatever I can for them.  That I try to educate, entertain and help my fellow travelers on our life journeys.  That I recognize my limits, both physical and financial, and don’t beat myself up when I just can’t do everything I’d like to do.

For me, a day when I’ve gotten it right is a day when I have done the work I planned for the day and finish it early enough to spend a few hours with my family and friends.  It’s a day when I’ve given someone a laugh or a smile, shared information that helped them in some way, even if it’s only to look at the world in a more sane and humane way.  It’s a day when I’ve been able to do something for a friend or even a stranger.

Getting it right doesn’t mean rolling over to avoid conflict.  When I see idiocy and injustice, I’ll fight it to the best of my meager abilities.  I wear the disparagement and the rage of those who hate me for my views like fucking medals of honor.  I mock them at will for their inability to lay a glove on me, especially when they do their “fighting” under anonymity or pseudonym.  I have no idea what they see when they look in the mirror.  When I look in the mirror, I see a man who has earned every one of his 62 years and who does not flinch from the image he sees.

That angry paragraph not withstanding, I am amazingly happy as we commence 2014.  I have my family and friends.  I have my writing. I have an audience for my writing.  I have a comfortable if modest lifestyle. I’m in pretty good health, both physically and mentally. I get the bear more often than the bear gets me.


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Those sentiments still hold true for me on this first day of 2016. There are challenges ahead, but there are always challenges ahead of us. There will be disappointments and successes. I hope that the disappointments are of the minor variety. I hope the successes lead to better and more joyful times for those I love, for the comics community, for my country and the world.

When I look in the mirror today, I see a 64-year-old man. But I am still amazingly happy as we commence 2016.

Happy new year, my friends. Let’s get it right.

I’ll be back soon with more stuff.  

© 2016 Tony Isabella

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