Before 2013 faded out, my intentions were to congratulate a number of local people receiving honors. And though it is late, and I'll probably overlook some important ones, I'll still tip my hat to these.

Certainly, Gordon Pirkle deserves accolades for founding and persistence in maintaining the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame.

Dawsonville can also be proud that Mayor James Grogan was recognized by Georgia Mountains Regional Commission as their choice for "Elected Official of the Year."

Recognition was also accorded our State Rep. Kevin Tanner, for his sponsorship of HB-122, which strengthened sexual offenders registration laws; he has been an active first-term legislator.

Our Dawson County Chamber of Commerce is to be commended for launching a Christmas Parade, which they plan to make an annual affair.

Their gala will soon reveal other citizens to be congratulated.

The holiday season was a very quiet one for me, as it should be for an elderly lady on a walker.

But I'm appreciative of the unexpected "specials" that happened for me - such as visitors who appeared with a small Christmas fir and all its trimmings, many with holiday goodies, friends who built a new ramp to my front door, a banner with an honor I never expected.

Most of all, in the old and the new, I'm grateful for the patience of family and friends.

As sports fans await the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics, Georgians may mourn the final scores of Falcons, Bulldogs and Yellow Jackets.

And many are sorry that Georgia Gov. Nathan Dean turned down the forty plus millions of federal money for Medicaid, especially those who need it.

We all hope that this new year will be a healthy, happy, rewarding one. We even make resolutions to help bring those hopes to fruition.

Some of those results depend upon our worldviews. What is that? A worldview is the basic perspective from which one views everything: One's underlying outlook that determines how he/she reacts to whatever happens. It determines your immediate, almost automatic, decisions, attitudes and actions. And it is based on a person's basic values.

Perhaps the best resolution we can make is to examine our values and know what shapes them and, in turn, shapes us.

Happy New Year to all of you.

Helen Taylor's column appears periodically in the Dawson Community News.