Written by Marianne Mansfield
I was going to write about the tradition of making new year’s resolutions in this column, however, it’s being done all over social media at the moment and I wasn’t feeling the urge. But while researching the background of New Year’s Resolutions I came across folk singer/activist Woody Guthrie’s list of New Year’s “Rulin’s” he penned at the close of 1941.
Guthrie is possibly best known for writing the song “This Land is Your Land.” Or if you are a member of my generation, he is nearly equally as well known for being Arlo Guthrie’s father. Arlo’s signature work was the 18 minute long song “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree.” I always loved the fact that Arlo’s song was the same length as one of the gaps in the Nixon Watergate Tapes. No coincidence there.
Back to Woody, though.
With a few changes, and some needing none, Guthrie’s Rulin’s struck home as markedly germane to our world today.
Covering both the profound and mundane, his 33 New Year’s Rulin’s guided Guthrie’s hoped-for course through the upcoming year. What is particularly intriguing about the list is how it wanders from the deep to the day to day. For example, #27 on the list is “Help Win War- Beat Fascism.” Substitute the word Racism for Fascism and we create a Rulin we could all stand to include in our list of Resolutions for 2015.
Numbers 3,4,5, 9, 10 and 11 on Woody’s list pertain to personal hygiene, including bathing, shining shoes and wearing clean socks. This attention to cleanliness perhaps stemmed from his experiences during the Dust Bowl era of the Great Depression when he traveled with displaced farmers moving from Oklahoma to California, learning their traditional and blues songs.
I would surmise that if one lives in conditions that are as trying as the Dust Bowl must have been, it’s life’s basic necessities that rise to the surface in importance. I suspect that we would see similar rulin’s at or near the top of the lists of our friends and neighbors who are homeless and hungry today.
Speaking of hungry, Woody seemed concerned about his diet and his health. Number 6, “Eat good-Fruit-Vegetables-Milk” and #7, “Drink Very Scant, If Any” ought to sound familiar, given the current media focus on getting healthy in the New Year.
As a singer and songwriter Woody charts his coming work year with rulin’s like #1 “Work More and Better”; #2 “Work By A Schedule”; and #8 “Write a Song a Day.” For a man with a troubadour’s heart, however, these must have been areas in which he felt he needed considerable resolve, for he also mentions that he would like to “dream good and dance better”. Rulin’s #21-#24 deal with the hoped-for financial fruits of his song writing efforts including “Bank All Extra Money.” I imagine this is the rub of those who make a living by creating art. The battle of the creative versus the practical must be ongoing and ever-vexing.
Woody also gives advice to his own soul, and it is here that he appears the most human and poignant. Number 17 “Don’t Get Lonesome”. My heart breaks when I read that one. How does a person accomplish that? Later on in the list, though, I think Woody hints at his own answers to the dilemma. Number 18 “Stay Glad” and #31 “Love Everybody.”
He didn’t ignore his intellectual development either. Number 13 “Read Lots Good Books” and #14 “Listen To Radio A Lot” appear to be two avenues he sees for self improvement. He also advises himself to “Learn People Better.” Can you imagine what it would be like if each of us adopted that strategy for the New Year?
As he draws his list to a close, Woody reminds himself to love his family members and not to waste time. But it is in the final two points on his list that he seems to give himself marching orders for the upcoming year.
“Make Up Your Mind” and “Wake Up and Fight.”
Taken together, this list says it all.
I no longer feel the need to make a list of my own resolutions for the upcoming year. I’m just going to keep a copy of Woody’s in my work desk drawer and pull it out on a regular basis.
Happy New Year, everyone.
Marianne Mansfield has lived in Southern Utah since 2010. She and her husband followed their grandchildren to this area from Michigan. In her former life she was a public school educator. More than half of her career was spent as an elementary principal, which is why her response to most challenges is, “This isn’t my first rodeo.” She grew up in Indiana, and attended Miami of Ohio, Ball State University and Michigan State. She is a loyal MSU Spartan and Detroit Tiger baseball fan. She has been writing fiction and opinion since her retirement in 2004.
