A whole new year, at least I think I will make the whole year! We have plenty to do to fill this new slate, and I have been sitting here for an hour trying to decide if I want to try to resolution this year or not.

I have a decent life style, don’t drink or chew anything but food and a piece of alfalfa once in a while and am smart enough not to ever try to whack my close relative. I pray, go to church and love my family, horse and dog. I have devoted hours to community services, like helping keep the coffee emporium open by spending money there and paying my taxes. I tip waitresses, remove my hat when indoors and clean off my boots before walking through the grocery store.

I ain’t perfect, but I am closing in on it! Well, not closing real fast - and maybe that is strictly my opinion - but for the life of me, I can’t see how any resolution would make me a better person. My driving record is clean,no tickets for the last 20 years (at least, that I can remember) and no arrests, not even in the immediate family. Sure, I threaten to bet once in a while, but I don’t carry out the activity. I would if I could make it to the Hot Springs track, but that is not gonna happen to this old poor boy.

Well, maybe I should think a little deeper. I am a deep thinker at times, a fact you are aware of, I am sure. I suppose I could adjust some of my attitude a little bit. I could question why I sneer at some breeds of cattle. They are beef and I am aware of that. I could stop being so downright negative about some of the new styles the male population has adopted. I figure I could be a little more understanding of folks that can’t hold a job due to implements such as shovel handles not fitting their hands.

We could all be quite a bit more civil when speaking to the salesman or woman who calls during supper with a dealon siding for our homes. I realize I don’t speak real sweet when I say no. I know I am slightly perturbed by the time I reach a human on the phone when I call to ask simple questions about a bill, and my voice may have deepened an octave and be covered in thorns. Maybe I should correct that, if possible.

And, bless their hearts, the cashiers who hand you back your change with the coins on top of the folding money make the hair on my neck stand straight up. My deepest desire is to make them do it over correctly, exactly 100 times, like shutting a screen door without slamming it!

It is my opinion, and everyone has one, I suddenly have realized that I need to do some work on myself.

One thing I need to correct is that high stepping opinion about me, beings as I am not anywhere near as perfect as I started out thinking I was this morning! I suppose all I would have had to do was inquire of my status with my close relative to be set completely straight!

Happy new year! Make it a better one!

Bill is a pen name used by the Gravette author of this weekly column.

Opinion, Pages 4 on 01/09/2013