Time to Make And Keep Serious New Year's Resolutions

Ah yes, time for the good old New Year's resolutions.

You know the drill: lose weight, quit smoking and drinking, be nicer and make all kinds of promises, soon to be broken.

The gymnasiums are just packed with do-gooders resolving to get into shape and lose weight. And why not? Americans tend to be one of the best fed nations in the world. Diplomatically speaking, you get my point.

By March, the gyms are nearly emptied out and the resolutions long forgotten. It takes real discipline to make a serious resolution, then really live up to it.

I’m trying to give some serious consideration to my own New Years resolutions.

• Lose weight: I don’t need to do that. I’m not overweight.

• Quit smoking: Not me. I hate tobacco products. I was part of the movement to get rid of smoking in public places.

• No drinking. Not really guilty. Don't need any DWIs on my record.

• Quit swearing: Not sure I want to sign up for that quite yet? Seems like it has something to do with venting hostilities and First Amendment rights.

Maybe these are some of the things I should resolve for 2012 that might make sense.

• Be nicer to my family.

• Pay more attention to the grandkids.

• Listen more and talk less.

• Be a better book reader.

• Learn more about the world around me.

My mother always said people didn't need hearing aids, they needed listening aids.

I think New Year's resolutions are great, but living up to them is another matter. We all need to get our minds out of our work and diversions and spend more time with our families.

Recently, I was in New York City on holiday. Riding the subways, I couldn’t help but notice that most riders were plugged into earphones, listening intently to their own music. Or, they were busy on their iPhones or iPads totally absorbed inside their own little world.

I asked myself, "Whatever happened to a nice friendly conversation?" Dare I ask the person next to me on the subway “How’s the weather," or "Where are you headed today?” Of course not. I would be getting into their space.

The good manners police would have me locked up.

These days, it's nearly impossible to strike up a conversation with the person seated next to you on an air plane. Isn’t that odd, since two total strangers will be sitting together for a two-hour ride or longer? The silence is striking.

I can’t help myself, I’m just a “people” person. I like to converse with anyone. I’d like to know what’s on the mind of the person next to me.

That is nearly impossible in this fast paced, electronically driven world we live in.

In the golden, olden days, old timers would sit around the town square and just shoot the breeze to pass the time. That era is long gone.

Now we just kind of pass one another in our own little silent worlds without even a hint of a fleeting conversation.

I liked it better the other way.

Happy New Years anyway.