Higher Resolution

It is the dreaded time of the year: when one should resolve and commit to ways in which one should improve one’s life. This usually consists of a list of goals: concrete, measurable actions which can be checked off a list. I am not good at this. I shun this once-a-year making of lists which all too soon gives way to the cold icy reality of late January. This year, I am seeking “Higher Resolution.” Dictionary.com lists 11 definitions of “resolution" under the first entry for the word. I have chosen #6, which defines resolution as: “The fineness of detail that can be distinguished in an image.” Or in my case, in a life. I have a rather old model digital camera: 3.0 megapixels and not the greatest of resolution. What this means is that initially the pictures look great. But under closer inspection, and with enlargement, the edges aren’t as smooth, the lines not exactly straight, the colors impure. Instead of smooth, cohesive images, you can identify each pixel which makes up the bigger picture. This is how I see my life at this moment in time. Yes, everything appears okay, the “pictures,” although not always of happy or perfect subject matter, look fine. But what I want is Higher Resolution: a cleaning and sharpening of my life so that things stand up to closer inspection, so that images are as pure and crisp as they are at first glance, and so that beauty and happiness will be crystal clear. I want to zoom in on any aspect of how I live, and not see any pixelation at all. A tall order, perhaps, but I am the photographer, editor, and publisher and will be the only one who can judge to true clarity of the picture I display.