Editor's Observation: Loose Ends At Year's End

Another year is almost over. This year has seen greater growth in the Parma Observer, greater participation, greater awareness in our community that the citizens have a voice and it can be trumpeted in print on paper and in cyberspace. Ultimately, not just within our municipal borders, but all over the world. Maybe someone in some faraway corner of the globe happens on to our web page and reads about the lifestyle of our community, imagining what it would be like to live here for themselves. Such news long ago created the American Dream in the hearts of those abroad. How blessed we are.

As such, I am taking a moment to reflect on what, for me personally, has been a hard year. But it has not been without its blessings. Losing a family member changes a person. After the grief lessens, painful thoughts give way to happy memories at unexpected moments, sometimes prompted by a loved one’s favorite color, candy, or sport. I can’t see a Cleveland Indians insignia without thinking how much Mom and Dad loved going to the games, even “up in heaven” in the cheap seats, and the many games we watched together at both stadiums. I wasn’t a fan of the game as much as I was a fan of Mom and Dad. It was companionable time spent together as we children grew into adults, adjusting to an adult relationship with our parents, enjoying an all-American pastime.

As the year comes to a close, I find in retrospect that I’m learning how to let go, especially of nonconstructive criticism. Criticism, especially when it got personal, used to totally unravel me, thinking that it must be justified or a person wouldn’t make such a mean-spirited remark. Perhaps it comes with the territory, but I’ve become so tired of many people’s petty politics as they yammer on and on about anything and everything they find to complain about. Life is too short, folks! Be grateful for what you have, share what you can, do something constructive to help others. Choose your issues carefully; don’t be a cranky crab who can’t find anything good to say. But above all, please don’t tear down the efforts of others who are actually doing something to make life better for those around them.

Those who complain the loudest don’t realize how much they discourage and dishearten good people who deserve our support for maintaining or bettering the quality of life in our community through their hard work. Many of those people are cheerful volunteers, or modestly paid public servants. Most of them are not doing it for the big bucks or for the glory. They’re just motivated by a good heart.

A good heart. That has been my personal goal this past year, one on which I have made all-too-slow progress. It is a goal I will keep working on into 2012 and beyond. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,” said Jesus in Matthew 5:8. “Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting,” is David’s concluding prayer from the powerful, evocative Psalm 139. Psalm 51:10 says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” It is a goal which humbles me when my motives are not pure. It helps me purge less than gracious thoughts. It reminds me Whom is Boss. It leads me to be more appreciative.

Yes, even appreciative of the yammerers, God bless them.