Recently, I stumbled across this adage attributed to Ben Franklin: “Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.”
Often, we aim to become better people when the calendar flips us into January. Even the most common New Year’s resolutions, to exercise more and to lose weight, require self-discipline and perseverance if we are to match desire with success.
For many of us, this busy season from Thanksgiving to New Year’s brings other virtues into play as well. We try, for example, to maintain control of the amount of money we spend on food and gifts. In the hectic rush of the holidays, many of us consciously attempt to avoid Scrooge’s “Bah, Humbug!” attitude and keep up a front of good cheer. We decorate our homes or send out Christmas cards when we’d rather be sprawled out on the sofa watching sports on TV….