There are many who can't wait to say goodbye to 2014 and hello to 2015.  With the New Year always come new hopes and promises.  As with most things in our lives, those hopes and promises begin with ourselves.

        We have little control over world affairs and, as citizens, our main influence comes in our power at the ballot box at election time.  But we can help ourselves by doing our part to be better people.  We need to work harder to sustain what's right and improve what's wrong.

        To guide our readers, in what has become a New Year's tradition here at the Town and Country newspaper, we offer the following resolutions.  They're not a cure-all – they're only words.  You still need to provide the action.  They are simple words that provide powerful guidelines that can be easily adapted to everyday life at home, school, work, or even in the halls of local, state, and federal government.

        The person who penned this bit of wisdom is unknown to history, but the words have been around for decades.  The good sense provided by them is timeless.

        Place them in a prominent place and read them often.

Resolutions

        No one will ever get out of this world alive.  Resolve, therefore, to maintain a reasonable sense of values.

        Take care of yourself.  Good health is everyone's major source of wealth.  Without it, happiness is almost impossible.

        Resolve to be cheerful and helpful.  People will repay you in kind.

        Avoid angry, abrasive persons.  They are generally vengeful.

        Avoid zealots.  They are generally humorless.

        Resolve to listen more and talk less.  No one ever learned anything by talking.

        Be chary of giving advice - wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

        Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and wrong. Sometime in life you will have been all of these.

        Do not equate money with success.  There are many successful moneymakers who are miserable failures as human beings.  What counts most about success is how a person achieves it.

        In closing, the staff at the Town and Country newspaper wishes all of our readers a safe, promising and happy New Year.