Gelkote

The commotion of the holidays is finally behind us and that means time to look forward. No, not Spring or warmer weather but I like how you think. I’m talking about New Years resolutions. The good intentions we throw out at the start of the new year but never manage to keep.

For 2009, I’m thinking I’d like to take more pictures, read more, write more and exercise more. My Dad and Sister Lea are really putting me to shame in latter. I should probably drink less and not snack quite as much. I should communicate better with Cherie and travel back to WV more. In the end, I need to try to be a better me but is that really a resolution? It’s not as sexy as some but certainly more encompassing and perhaps even do able. Enter a book Cherie picked up for my birthday named Life and Labors of Pope Leo XIII.

Life and Labors of Pope Leo XIII – Maurice Francis Egan

The book was gifted on Mother’s Day 1934 but at some point turned into a scrapbook of interesting nuggets pasted within. The eclectic contents include the lyrics for the Battle Hymn of the Republic, an article on a 20 foot wide roadway going up Pikes Peak in Colorado and a snippet of where US Presidents are Buried. The last president noted was Warren G. Harding. The next president Calvin Coolidge didn’t die until 1929 so the yellowed article is at least that old. The book also contains information on poets and poetry which is where I was introduced to Edgar A. Guest.

Picture of Edgar A. Guest and his Poetry

You know I’m not one to regurgitate history that can be found more thoroughly on the web so you can Google Edgar Guest or check out Wikipedia. The point of this post is how one of his poems called My Creed really hits home when it comes to New Year’s resolutions and how we should live our lives. Below is Edgar Guest’s My Creed as pasted into the book.

To Live each day as though I may never see the morrow come; to be strict with myself, but patient and lenient with others; to give the advantage, but never ask for it; to be kindly to all, but kindlier to the less fortunate; to respect all honest employment; to remember always that my life is made easier and better by the service of others, and to be grateful.

To be tolerant and never arrogant; to treat all men with equal courtesy; to be true to my own in all things; to make as much as I can of my strength and the day’s opportunity, and to meet disappointment without resentment.

To be friendly and helpful wherever possible; to do, without display of temper or of bitterness, all that fair conduct demands; to keep my money free from cunning or the shame of a hard bargain; to govern my actions so that I may fear neither reproach nor misunderstanding nor words of malice or envy, and to maintain, at whatever temporary cost, my own self-respect.

To keep faith with God, my fellow men, and my country.

This is my creed and my philosophy. I have failed it often, and shall fail it many times again; but by these teachings of my mother and my father I have lived to the best of my ability; laughed often, loved, suffered, grieved, found consolation and have prospered. By friendships I have been enriched, and the home I have builded has been happy. EDGAR A. GUEST

There you have it folks, the end all be all of New Year’s resolutions. If Edgar Guest could have lived his life to be a better person so can all of us.

Here’s to a reflective and growing 2009!