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In Mark Twain’s famous book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, one of the main themes of the novel is the struggle between society’s morals and personal morals. Huck, the main character, has lived most of his life as a wild child. Alone for most of his life, Huck taught himself to survive. The only adult in Huck’s life was is abusive drunk of a father. Huck was an innocent child who had to develop his own conscience. When a well-respected woman named Miss Watson tries to civilize him, his own morals are morphed and mixed with that of the society.

The civilized society of Huck’s time said that slaves were as much someone’s property as an ox or a horse. When Huck escapes from his father, Miss Watson’s slave, Jim, joins him on his journey. The fact that Jim is an escaped slave bothers Huck’s conscience because he believes that he had a part in taking Miss Watson’s property. Several times in the book Huck ponders turning Jim in but because he is a true friend, Huck listens to his heart and not his head and always decides that he would rather “go to hell” for doing something that society called wrong: Helping Jim escape to freedom.

Huck had been taught by society that what he was doing was wrong. Huck decided to do what was “wrong” because he knew it was right. This is a lesson that I think that all teenagers and young adults should learn when they are becoming more and more independent in life. That no matter what the world tells you, you know what’s right.

I have been asking around for a good dentist to get tooth crowns. And, I am surprised to report that this was not an easy request, apparently, the dentist is not a well-used resource unless a tooth is in extreme pain. The dentist is a person that the average American seems to avoid unless the explosion of real pain in the mouth is greater than the psychological fear from your memories of childhood of the man or woman with the sharp pointy tool hacking at your teeth and the drill with the scary whirring sound.

My memories are strong and I have resisted the idea of a new tooth crowns for quite some time, however, I have overcome my fears and I am resolved to see a general dentist. I have screwed up my courage and hope that the dentist can repair and recreate my winning smile. I have used my personal and professional network of friends and associates to find the best man for the job, and in this case, they came through like champions. I am suppressing my childhood memories of the dental chair and look forward to once again allowing myself to smile the big smile.

This is one of my favorite times of the year; NFL Playoffs! Most of the time, I have at least one of the teams I follow in the hunt and in the playoffs, but not this year, so my significant other is wondering why I am watching the games? I watch because these are the best of the best there is in professional football and it’s just fun to watch!

Because I don’t follow all the teams it also gives me the chance to see some of the talent I hear and read about but don’t watch every week. I feel the same about the NBA playoffs, the World Series and the Olympics that come every four years. By the way, they Winter Games are only a month or so away and while I never watch speed skating or downhill skiing during the year, I will be  watching as usual when these events are happing in conjunction with the Winter Olympics. What can I say, I admire talent and skill in any sport.

I had a friend last year who told me she had found a great new diet that I should try. So like any good friend, I asked her about the diet and why I should try it. In other words, are you trying to tell me something? She laughed and told me she was on a diet from the news and talk shows that have taken over the airwaves and can drive you crazy if you let them. She said she was feeling better than she has for years and no longer worries because there’s not a lot to worry about when you aren’t listening to all the chatter.

So I decided to take the news diet and see what happened and I must tell you that I feel perfectly great and ready for the New Year! I still hear about the important stuff that we all need to hear about from friends and the internet but all the cross talk, dooms day theories, bickering and accusations are gone and it feels wonderful not to hear all that crap! It took all of a week to throw off the old and embrace the new that gets me away form all the stuff I don’t really even care about. Now that I am fee, I am not going back and that is my resolution for 2010.