CAROLINE'S CORNER: BUT WILL YOU LOVE ME TORMORROW?

Minnie May Marble says she makes New Year's resolutions to break them.

"I've made myself a rule, and breaking it is exciting," she said. "It is like the first time my mama told me not to touch the hot stove. I had to touch it just lightly to see what would happen. I know what will happen when I break my resolutions, but I feel compelled to do it."

I make lots of resolutions that I break within a few days. Changing the diet is the BIG resolution for most of us. After three days on the Birmingham Cardiac Diet of beets and carrots, it is back to hamburgers and onion rings for me.

Exercise is another big resolution for the new year. Employees at fitness facilities say their business begins to boom on Jan. 1. Last year I tried that route and kept my resolution for three whole months. The excitement wore off, the weights became heavier, and I yielded to laziness. I'll return to the gym on Jan. 2 and start over with the other drop-outs.

Last year I resolved to become more organized. I am still resolved, but I just haven't been able to find a way to become organized. My dining room table is filled with back copies of newspapers, possible ideas for feature articles and ideas for columns. I know where everything is, and so does anyone who comes in my front door. Maybe this year I should resolve to hire an organizer to organize my life.

This year I'll try to work on diet, exercise and organization. I'll also try to work on my relationships with others. How much better the world would be if we all made (and kept) resolutions to treat others with respect and to love them unconditionally!

"It is easy to love someone who looks like us, talks like us and thinks like us," Minnie May Marble says.

Loving those who are unlike us takes effort.

Unconditional love does not pass judgment on others. It requires tolerance.

Unconditional love does not seek power. It seems to be human nature that most people, depending on their station in life, want power, whether it be over the sibling or Congress. If each person tried to control his own life as much as he did others, there would be peace in the home, community and world. We are not a flock of fowl who must peck subordinate birds and submit to being pecked by dominant birds.Last night was the traditional New Year's Eve - t-he countdown on the clock, the kiss and the cup of kindness.

Today I'll choose my resolutions. For a while I will eat a healthy diet, exercise, be organized and love you as you are.

Caroline Simpson's columns and human-interest features appear in other Rust Communications publications.