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New Year’s Resolutions?

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At this time when we are supposedly making up New Year’s resolutions, I am reminded of this poem by Jorge Luis Borges, the great Argentinian poet who died not long after his poem “Instants” was written.

Instants

If I could live again my life,
In the next - I'll try,
- to make more mistakes,
I won't try to be so perfect,
I'll be more relaxed,
I'll be more full - than I am now,
In fact, I'll take fewer things seriously,
I'll be less hygenic,
I'll take more risks,
I'll take more trips,
I'll watch more sunsets,
I'll climb more mountains,
I'll swim more rivers,
I'll go to more places - I've never been,
I'll eat more ice creams and less (lime) beans,
I'll have more real problems - and less imaginary ones,
I was one of those people who live
prudent and prolific lives -
each minute of his life,
Of course that I had moments of joy - but,
if I could go back I'll try to have only good moments,

If you don't know - that's what life is made of,
Don't lose the now!

I was one of those who never goes anywhere
without a thermometer,
without a hot-water bottle,
and without an umbrella and without a parachute,

If I could live again - I will travel light,
If I could live again - I'll try to work bare feet
at the beginning of spring till
the end of autumn,
I'll ride more carts,
I'll watch more sunrises and play with more children,
If I have the life to live - but now I am 85,
- and I know that I am dying . . .

A Belated New Year’s Resolution

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On Retiring from Politics

On Retiring from Politics

I have finally decided to stop writing about politics. I find I get too involved reacting to idiocies, mostly from the Right—but I do not exempt so-called Progressives either. I think I’ve already said just about everything bad I can think of about the people, parties, and media that, over the last thirty years, I have come to detest. So, to hell with them all! Bad cess on them and their vile progeny!

The world is a wondrous place: I don’t want to spoil my enjoyment of that wonder by venting my bile at the slightest provocation.

Oh, I will still actively participate in politics by voting, signing petitions, and so on—but what passes for political discourse in this country will henceforth be closed to me.

And this on a day when there were so many stupid things said or proposed, any one of which could have set me off. I don’t care any more if an Idaho legislator wants to make Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged mandatory reading in order to graduate from high school in his state. It no longer matters that an Alabama legislator wants to ban abortion because his interpretation of the Bible is that the souls of aborted fetuses will wind up in hell. I no longer care what Wayne La Pierre and his pasty crew of gun collectors say about anything—it’s bound to be crap in any case.

Let these simpletons stew in their own juices. I just refuse to take them seriously any more. Life is for living, not for crass stupidity.