On Lists:

This is a time of lists. The end of one year and the beginning of another. Top 10, 40, 50, 100 of things march on by on the news, TV or radio.

We list the things we want to do in the new year. Even the ones of us that don’t write them down or tell what our new years resolution are have them in our heads. We all have things we want to do and ‘lists’ are how we keep them all straight.

The trouble with lists is the tendency to compare. Longer or shorter, accomplished or not, do-able or unrealistic, we want to know how we stack up against others. Are the songs we like on the list of hits or not and what does that say about us? Is a favorite celebrity on the in’s or out’s with the press or public opinion and what side of the fence are we on about it? Lists do make us feel connected.

Even when we didn’t get the job done we feel we have at least tried when we can say it was on the ‘to do’ list.

A list helps us keep order in our lives, serves as a memory receptacle or a map. We would be lost without them. Never again would a recipe go right without the shopping list starting the process.

Whether or not they are written or mental these lists hold an important place in out lives. So we must give them our do. The end of the year is upon us. Make a list.