Of Dreams and Truths

It may seem a bit late for New Year's resolutions. But if you're like us -- and probably most people these days -- the holiday season was so rushed that you barely sent your Christmas cards by the first of January, and haven't bought all of your 1986 calendars yet. Besides, New Year's shouldn't be the only time we reflect on what we'd like to accomplish in our lives.

It's all too easy to forget the ritual of resolution-making. When we do indulge in resolutions, most likely they are not the products of genuine soul-searching, but the day-to-day goals that are uppermost in our minds. And somehow, the old standbys seem to come up year after year: "I resolve to lose ten pounds . . . clean that hallway closet . . . write to Aunt Mildred every week, and this time I mean it." By March our good intentions have usually been crowded out by other concerns, or we've made a good start on at least a couple of them, or maybe they weren't as important as we thought.

It's not that we're insincere about making resolutions. It's just that in the noise and confusion of daily living, it's easy to forget the things that are really important to us. Now and then we need a little reminder.

One such reminder is sitting on your bookshelf. Too often, perhaps, we think of the Canon only as a pleasurable escape from the frustrations of the modern world. When the evening news brings us the national debt, starving neighbors, and nuclear insanity, we can retreat to that pleasant place where "it is always 1895," and where Sherlock Holmes is always tight (almost always, anyway).

But however much we would have it be 1895, it remains 1986; and if the world is to be a better place, its inhabitants must make it so, Yet we need not abandon the Canon. For in addition to being an occasional escape, it is also an occasional inspiration. Within its pages, if we look carefully, can be found many values worth adopting, many people worth emulating.

True, we can't all be as smart as Sherlock Holmes -- though the world undoubtedly would be a better place were it so. And we don't advise that you resolve to go for days without food or sleep, to smoke large quantities of shag tobacco, or to inject yourself with cocaine. Nevertheless, we could do worse than resolve to adopt many of the values expressed in those pages, and put them into practice in our own lives.

"I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just possible that I am saving a soul . . . . Besides, it is the season of forgiveness." (BLUE)

"It was worth a wound -- it was worth many wounds -- to know the depth of loyality and love that lay behind that cold mask . . . . All my years of humble but single-minded service culminated in that moment of revelation." (3GAR)

"If my record were closed tonight I could still survey it with equanimity . . . . In over a thousand cases I am not aware that I have ever used my powers upon the wrong side." (FINA)

"We can but try." (CREE)

Justice . . . loyalty. . . courage . . . integrity . . . honesty . . . determination . . . chivalry . . . humor . . . love. If you can't remember finding all of these -- and more -- when last you read Watson's chronicles, then it's time you read them again. And when you do, take the opportunity to remind yourself that these timeless values belong not just to the world of Sherlock Holmes, but to the world we live in -- if only we take them to heart.

(Printed in Plugs & Dottles, February 1986)