BY JACK GODBEY

Community columnist

A brand new year has finally arrived! It seems that for many people this couldn’t have come soon enough. 2020 could be compared to your Aunt Myrtle from Florida with her two snot nose kids who came to visit and just didn’t know when to leave.

It seems that many people have mistakenly penned the majority of their problems on poor old 2020 and are under the assumption that the new year will bring a whole new life.

While that may seem like a lot for a year to live up too, I can say that 2021 will have the easiest job of any year in recent memory. In fact, it won’t even have to do anything special in order to be considered an improvement.

When I was growing up, there was a pair of brothers who I went to school with, and the older brother was meaner than a junkyard dog. He was always in trouble and spent more time in the principle’s office than he spent in class.

He was the kind of kid who made your stomach turn when you saw him coming because you knew something bad was coming. This kid was single handedly responsible for teaching every male in the seventh grade to constantly cover their private areas as a punch was surely coming if you didn’t.

The younger brother by default seemed much more likeable. Now that I think about it, the younger brother didn’t do anything special at all, but compared to his older and meaner brother, he seemed like a breath of fresh air.

The change in the year used to mean that I was sitting up until midnight to greet the New Year. I recall when I was younger that New Year’s Eve meant popping a big bowl of popcorn and opening a two liter of Dr. Pepper and then sitting back and wait for the ball to drop.

As I have grown older I find that New Year’s Eve consists of me binge watching episodes of The Andy Griffith Show and falling asleep on the couch only to discover that I wake up at two in the morning and realize I missed the new year change all together.

What’s the big deal about seeing the new year come in anyway? In reality, nothing changes. Mankind, in our attempt to label and control everything are the ones who invented time. Mother Nature knows no such constriction. The sun rises and sets the same way on January 1st as it did a day before.

I have learned the hard way not to make any foolish resolutions as well. If history is any indication I simply can’t afford to make resolutions.

If I make a resolution to lose 10 pounds then I will spend half my paycheck on a set of weights and then huff and puff as I start a new exercise routine. Before two weeks have passed, I have already thrown my new expensive equipment in the closet and I finished my fourth bucket of KFC and end up gaining five pounds.

I figure that in order to lose weight, I am much better off to not to make any resolutions to begin with.

As we start the new year I hope you find the change you’re looking for. As for me, I’ll take a bucket of KFC and call it a year.