By J. Paul Lombardo

One of my favorite movies, (and its sequel, too), that almost always stops my channel surfing when I’m doing that is, the Billy Crystal, David Stern, Jack Palance Western, comedy, City Slickers. As many times as I have seen these movies, and even though I can recite most of the movie script, it never stops me from laughing out loud when the parts I find funny (and that’s a lot of laughing), occur.

There was one conversation in the first movie which showed the soft, gentle side of the appeared rough, tough, “leathery” character, Curly (Palance) when he was riding alongside Mitch (Crystal) just sharing and contemplating life. The conversation went like this:

Curly: “Do you know what the secret of life is?” [pointing index finger skyward] “This.”

Mitch: “Your finger?”

Curly: “One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that, and the rest don’t mean (expletive.).”

Mitch: But what is the “one thing?”

Curly: [smiles, pointing his finger at Mitch] That’s what you have to find out.

That conversation brought me to thinking (some may call that beginner’s luck) about what would be my “one thing.” The answer is easy, my number one thing, is my bride Sally. My sub-list includes all my family, my friends, all the opportunities I’ve been given in this life, and my health, just to name a few of what are like a million things that are important to, what I’d guess, all of us. I’m sure we can include having purpose in this life, feeling value in ourselves, and being valuable to others in our lives, and so many other things that are important after our personal and designated secret of life, “one thing.”

There are times, though, when we all need to find something special, that means a lot to us, that could last anywhere from ten minutes up to hours, that may seem insignificant or trivial to others, but which gives our own self a sense of accomplishment, value, and uniqueness. It momentarily stops time, stress, and treats us like the greatest person on earth, probably because for however long it takes us to do it, we are, in our own minds, the only person on the face of the earth.

For many years now, I have experienced something like that, which I believe is my own special tradition, which some of the people in my life know what it is, and which usually lasts about fifteen minutes from start to finish, that, taking a line from Jimmy Buffett’s song, Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season, “…it cleans me out and then I can go on.”

The length of time is not important as I celebrate my annual tradition.

It doesn’t matter what the weather is like when I’m celebrating it. I don’t have to get dressed up to celebrate it. It requires no food, drink, decoration, or any other props except for what I bring with me, before returning home empty-handed. It’s my special thing I do, which involves preparation in the few months before it happens, but all adds up to creating a special feeling in my heart and mind, before, during, and after, it’s over.

We live in some troubled times these days. There is war in the world, there are ideological conflicts happening between, among, and within countries, (ours being one of them), that divide and attempt to conquer each other, and like the mad scientists of the Sci-Fi genre, want to control others as well.

Many are struggling physically, mentally, financially, these days. There are many seeking enough to eat, warmth, shelter, friendship, and a positive life. There is much violence and senseless killing everywhere in the world. So, yes, we are living in some troubled times, but that doesn’t mean it is all doom and gloom. There’s a lot of good in the world, in our country, and our lives. Sometimes, though, we can be part of change, and if we might get discouraged along the way, we need to develop some type of “safety valve,” if you will, to clear some of the cloud cover in our lives, and allows us to focus on some of those positives, and try to use that to help change some of the darkness of our world that sometimes shadows our lives.

So, definitely keep that “one thing,” in answer to Curly’s question on the meaning of life, but, also, try to find or create something that only you can celebrate by yourself for whatever amount of time you do it. Make it something you can call your own, something that will maybe rejuvenate you, and you alone, something that gives you an outlook that might recharge you, refresh you, maybe remove some of life’s cloudiness, and reinvigorate you until you can celebrate it again. In this new year, my wish for everyone is that all of you can find what I have found in my 15-minute annual activity.