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 [ VOICES ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=375)

#  The Best of Life List

Written by Liz Amsden.

December 26 2022

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ACCORDING TO LIZ - Tis the season of the “best” lists – the last ten days or so of each year that pundits dedicate to assembling their personal opinions on the best and the worst of what went on in the world this year in their sphere.

The ten best of this, the top one hundred of that, whatever… The end of the year is a time for the making and sharing of lists.

And because very few people agree about anything, let alone everything, these lists often instigate more arguments than agreement.

So what if this year folks focus on their personal best list. And let’s not require a specific number. If it’s two or a hundred and two, that’s ok, if it’s enough for you.

And the best thing about it is that whatever you share will almost always bring forth a smile or a laugh in people as they share in your memories or generate others of their own.

And how about not limiting choices to the past year or decade. Or even this century or your lifetime. What’s best… is best.

No limits.

An afternoon shopping with your great aunt, the view from Machu Picchu, swimming with barracuda, cuddling in front of a campfire.

The dawn of mankind, the music from 2001. Terry Fox. The moon landing. Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

When you won that race.

A “you really, really like me” moment.

The birth of a child.

The death of a loved one when it was time for them to be released from their pain.

The moments you trusted yourself, absolutely and unconditionally.

Inspiration, in whatever its forms.

The sacredness of the universe. The power of your personal path, wherever it may take you.

That in 1964 the Supreme Court, in an exultant moment of embracing its limitations, could accept that the test for obscenity \[should be based subjectively\] "whether to the average person, applying contemporary community standards… ” with Justice Stewart in concurrence “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material \[hard-core pornography but I know it when I see it…”

Which gifts all of us, every American – man, woman and child – with the right to embrace all aspects of life subjectively without being subject to criticism for not being on other ten-best lists.

The beauty in art or the magic of theatre, the thrill of a piece of music. The glory of a sunset, the frisson of a touch.

And because these are subjective and because we are human beings, growing, evolving and constantly changing, we are free to move what moves us around.

Because perhaps the best in our lives is not what is free but that we are free.

Remember life as a child before dreams were dashed, and every day was a new adventure. Go forth and reclaim that awe and wonder.

And for a P.S., Just think of how Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s wardrobe choices would look on some of our elected officials 

*(Liz Amsden is a contributor to CityWatch and an activist from Northeast Los Angeles with opinions on much of what goes on in our lives. She has written extensively on the City's budget and services as well as her many other interests and passions. In her real life she works on budgets for film and television where fiction can rarely be as strange as the truth of living in today's world.)*

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