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Aiming High and Shooting Low

By Beacon Staff

I haven’t pinned down a New Year’s resolution yet. Oh well, I’ll probably break it anyway. Nevertheless, I’ve been throwing around some ideas. Eat healthier. Read more. Make lasting, valuable contributions to the health care system. Visit an African pygmy village. Increase awareness on the plight of depleting proboscis monkey populations in Malaysian Borneo. Take a shot at yoga or something else that could improve my ability to pull my foot behind my head. All good stuff.

I doubt I’ll follow through with any New Year’s resolution unless I find one within the next several days that I deem as feasible. Perhaps the proboscis monkeys need me, but my time is limited. I, like a majority of others, tend to break my resolutions on an annual basis, or at least shape them to my changing needs as the year progresses. I always feel healthier in the summer, so I’ll probably be able to take a break from my tireless efforts to revamp the health care system.

I figure why not have a little fun with your New Year’s resolutions. If you’re going to break a resolution anyway, why not fail because your ambitions were just too big, not because you were just too lazy. Irrational goals ultimately make it easier to justify failure. Aim high and shoot low. If the proboscis monkey population continues to dwindle, I’ll lose a little sleep over it – but not too much, because I’ve already embraced my inevitable shortcomings before 2008 has even begun. I’ll tell myself, well, the monkeys had a good run.

But if you do manage to fulfill your resolution – in its unfettered, pure entirety – you have the right to bask in your own glory. I’ll be standing on the sidelines, glaring in deep envy of your self-improvement and personal triumph. And if you have forgotten what triumph is, click here for a reminder.