Dear Editor,
A new year is transition. The date changes. Some of us will mess up writing a check a time or two because we’ll write 2024 until it finally sinks in that we are in a new year.
The new year means change. It always has and this year will not be any different. We will see a changing of the guard in our Presidency. President Biden is exiting after 50 or so years in national politics. Trump is coming back. January will bring immediate change upon his inauguration. However, it remains to be seen what will change and what won’t.
Life is always transitioning but we sometimes have difficulty making the transition. Some men never get over their high school sports career. They live in the past of the time when they were star athletes, but that may have. been 20 – 40 years ago. We often have great difficulty overcoming a failed relationship or marriage. It happened ten years ago but the impact of it still troubles us. We often still grieve over the loss of a loved one who died 20 years ago. We still miss them and the joy they brought into our lives. We often cannot transition from our jobs or careers. We remember those 20 to 40 years that we worked a certain job or business. We look back to those days often as great days that we would like to go back to.
It’s not easy to transition., The college freshman often misses their senior year of high school. Even as adults we remember those wonderful wasted days of childhood. The 35-year-old misses their teen years, the 80-year-old would like to bra fifty again.
Often, we dread birthdays. The actual birthdate brings a new number. The 15-year-old loves that 16 number because it means freedom to drive. The 64-year-old anticipates 65 and Medicare and the Social Security check soon to come.
Our hope must be to transition as well as we can because transition is coming for us all.
An old preacher friend said, “At every level there is a new devil.” At every stage and age of life there are joys and obstacles. There are new struggles and also new opportunities.
Let’s make 2025 the best year we’ve ever had. That may not be easy but it’s worth a try and even if it’s not our best year, keep in mind, it’s the only year we have at this time. The life we have today is the only life we have. We don’t have yesterday or even tomorrow. Let’s give 2025 our best effort and do our best to be here at this same time and place next year.
Dr. Glenn Mollette
