Now is the time for all to consider the past and to look to the future new year, awash with potential and possibility. No doubt there will be New Year’s resolutions made with the intent of staying true to them for the next 365 days. No doubt many will fail that task by the end of day one. No doubt, I’ve been there, done that!

Rather than resolutions, which tend to be much too broad and far-reaching, it may benefit us to consider instead the intent to make daily choices that will result in perhaps smaller but more significant changes in our day-to-day lives.

William Sangster, a 20th century British theologian, has said, “Every day the choice between good and evil is presented to us in simple ways.”

Here comes that person you absolutely cannot tolerate. Your knee jerk reaction is to turn as quickly as possible and find a place to avoid with a vengeance being on the same planet, not to mention the same room, with whomever it is that disarms you so much. But you’ve been seen; there’s no escape. The choice between good and evil is presented in a simple way. How harmful can it be to offer a pleasant greeting? Yet how often do we choose to follow the selfish impulse to brush aside a fellow human being?

You’re driving home on the interstate. You’re in the passing lane and the car ahead of you is driving under the speed limit, slowing traffic. The choice between good and evil is presented in a simple way. Do you impatiently tailgate the driver ahead, perhaps blinking your lights off and on? How harmful can it be to simply slow down a bit and let go of whatever anxiety, competition or arrogance compels you to think you are the only driver on the road?

You’re in the checkout line at a retail store and you have a buggy and a half of items stuffed into one shopping cart. A young mother with two children comes up behind you with three items. The choice between good and evil is presented in a simple way. Yes, you were there first and you want to get out of that store – after all, you won’t miss a minute of your favorite television show if you can get through the line and hurry home. How harmful can it be to allow the young mother to go through ahead of you? How harmful will it be to miss ten minutes of your favorite show?

It’s been a bad day, an Alexander’s “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day,” and nothing has gone the way you wanted it to go. The choice between good and evil is presented in a simple way. Do you take out your frustrations on someone else? Does something really insignificant trigger an outburst of anger and rage? Or do you sigh with relief that this day is over and resolve to let go of every terrible, horrible, no good very bad thing? Do you choose to unwind and discuss the issues of the day with someone you trust, or do you present an “attitude” that says, “Stay away from me; I’ve had it up to here?”

It’s the simple things that trip us all up. It’s those things that make us wonder if we’ll ever make it to medal contender in the Olympics of life. Yet we each fall victim to them at one time or another, and we each fail to make the right choices on any given day. Does that make us failures?

Absolutely not. It makes us human beings who fail. Even in choosing the evil response, we are provided with an opportunity to make an ensuing decision to choose between good and evil. “Forgive me.” “I’m sorry.” “I blew it; can we talk about it?”

New Year’s resolutions? Forget about them. Try making daily decisions between good and evil in the most simple of ways. Origen of Alexandria, a second century theologian, said during intense persecution of the early Christian church, “The power of choosing good or evil is within the reach of all.” In 2007, reach.

Harris Murray is director of library services at Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College. She can be reached by e-mail at writeharris55@yahoo.com. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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