Artifical Sweeteners

Yes, it is the New Year and like so many of you I have made my New Year’s resolution to get trim and lose some weight. Okay stop laughing. I know I make that same resolution every year and…well… it is a good resolution. So why change now even if I have failed to live up to it for four out of the last five years? But I say, “why quit now;” I might get lucky. It is sort of like playing the lottery with the same numbers all the time. You know in your gut that you are bound to win eventually; even if eventually is in the next millennium. So I too feel that I will eventually get down to the size I want. I just have to hope that medical science will learn a way to extend life until that day. One of the ways I plan to lose the weight is to cut back on my sugar intake by using artificial sweeteners.

I am also this year going to cut back in another area - on some of my “so called” friends. I really should not even classify these people as friends but more as acquaintances. Friends I equate with a higher degree respect, trust, caring, and commitment than from acquaintance. In looking back over the last few years, I have found myself relying on my friends more and more and in turn I have been there for those who needed me too. But the other evening I found myself looking hard at some of these “friendships” and found that they many have been very one sided. There are some that I can no longer count on and quite frankly I am going to down grade these individuals to the acquaintance level. With hindsight they are as artificial as my sugar substitute. The packaging say that they are as sweet as sugar but you just cannot cook with them.

This has nothing to do with the transgendered community but it is more an observation on people in general. I am sure you know people like these too, who claim to be your friend but only as long as you can be of some use to them. They start out very “saccharin” toward you at first and as long as you give more to the relationship than they do everything is “splenda”. But once you start to make things “equale” or actually ask them to do their fair share them we see the true “sweet n low” of the person.

If you are like me, we grew up very isolated with few if any friends and today when we see opportunities to make friends we throw ourselves into the relationship. In a way we go overboard in our attempt to win the other’s friendship often to the point where we allow ourselves to be taken for granted and even taken advantage of.

So as I begin to rethink these friendships which I have cultivated over the past few years I now see that some have been very one sided in deed. I need to just down grade them to acquaintance level and stop wasting my time on people who really do not care about me. I also need to make sure that I do not endanger any of my real friendships by taking them from grant and by being there for them when they need help. I need to say to every one of my friends, “Thank you for being my friend. I care about you and I cherish our friendship.” A really sobering thought for the New Year. I think I have indulged in too many polyols. I better go take two aspartames and lie down for awhile.

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