Wednesday's Word -- Resolution

Do you make New Year's Resolutions?  I typically am a big time resolutioner, but this year it seemed the most I could muster was the unimpressive likes of:

get out of bed
take care of kids
do job
keep it together

Not all that inspiring or resolutionary (if I can make that a word).  But you do what you can.  Sometimes that's more, and sometimes that's less.

Humor me while I share a few thoughts about the word "resolution.  Resolution comes from the Latin resolutionem, which means the "process of reducing things into simpler form."  Take the overwhelming whole and break it down into bite-size pieces.  It comes from the stem of resolvere, meaning "loosen."  So, now you know why a cleaner that claims to loosen and break down dirt might think to call itself "Resolve." 

Given my sub-par cleaning skills, it probably won't surprise you to know that I'm a bit more interested in other meanings of the word.  Resolution is also degree or sharpness of a computer-generated image (think pixels across and down your display screen).  Resolutions give you clarity.  Put all the pieces together and you get the picture. 

But here's my favorite meaning.  Resolution is the process in harmony whereby a dissonant (unstable) note or chord is followed by a consonant (stable) one.  I don't know about you, but I could use more consonance and less dissonance in 2011.  Here's to a resolutionary year.