36.1 F
Naperville
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Real Life – Anew

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The advent of a new decade! 

Better than September, that month full of fresh pens and blank notebooks, a new decade arrives unblemished. It could be the decade when our fellow humans will somehow shape up, and we will, too. Of course, it could go the other way, I’m afraid to say, but seeing the glass half full is the more positive approach with which to begin things. Don’t you agree?

Oxford, dictionary.com, and Merriam Webster offer what is generally, but not always, what I extrapolate to be a one word snapshot of a year. Their respective choices are based on the word most often looked up.

For 2019, the words are Climate Emergency; Existential; and They. In 2018, the words were Toxic; Misinformation; and Justice.

I am the grandmother of a two year old, and her word for the year is most certainly Why. In the context of two-ness, the answers to these queries are not particularly complex, and I don’t mind addressing them. In fact, it is a refreshingly real exercise to explain about barnyard animals and habitats, or why it’s important to wear clothes when it’s below zero outdoors and we are forced to walk the dog. 

Given the choice of ending the day emotionally spent by responding to Why, or being pummeled about the head by various pundits, campaigners and commercial hucksters vying for my eyes, my time and my dollars, I will choose a digital diet—unplugging, and reveling in every moment in a child’s world of innocence and unpredictability— every time.

Yes, the apps and websites I’ve so willingly signed up for seem to be talking back to me —and it’s been exhausting. 

With 8,784 hours in this Leap Year, by remaining centered, I may find time to clean my office and closets, and share what I no longer need. There are goals to set, people to help, and causes to support. 

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Patti Koltes
Patti Koltes
Real Life © by Patti Koltes. Contact her at pkoltes@gmail.com.

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