BEGINNINGS
I've never been one to drink and carouse in celebration of New Year's Eve or break out into wild abandon on New Year's Day. However, around the change of years, I do think about the past year, try to figure out how to make the next year better and look forward to the changes the new year will bring. And I haven't been one to worry obsessively about the Y2K problem; I haven't moved to the mountains or planned for major dislocations on January 1, 2000. But I have bought extra bottled water and canned goods and made sure I have batteries for flashlights and such.
People celebrate the possibility of change for the better, the possibility that the new year will be different from the last, the hope that we won't repeat the errors of the past. People hope that the new year will mark a break with the past, the beginning of a new life. There's something comforting about the thought of a clean slate. If we could really look back, identify our mistakes and move forward without suffering any effects of the past, how much nicer it would be. Unfortunately, the world doesn't work that way. We're all stuck with the consequences of our past conduct. All we can do is try to understand our past and do better in the future.
Many people also experience greater or lesser fear at the thought of the changes a new year will bring. Change is not welcomed by everyone. Even people who aren't happy with their lives, who wish things could be better, fear that change will make things worse, that the new year will bring greater discontent. Change is inevitable so we must welcome and deal with it. If we live in fear and expect things to stay the same, change will certainly be for the worse and we will become mired in unhappiness.
How do we deal with the hopes and fears surrounding the new year? And will the year 2000 be bright or gloomy? We should all be realistic. We can make things better if we're willing to be hopeful and try to identify and change the things we don't like. If you don't like your job, your friends, your hobbies, your schedule, your life in general, try to find out why. Is there something wrong with the external factors or is there something in you which needs changing? Similarly, we can avoid or minimize the effects of inevitable change by taking a positive attitude. If we look forward to change with courage and hope, we can prepare for it and make the best of it.
If we remember the past and look to the future with a constructive attitude, the future will be bright. If we accept responsibility for our past and make positive changes, our problems will be easier to solve and our lives will be better. This result will apply equally in the 21st century as in the 20th.
12-27-99
HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM YOUR INTERNET GRANDFATHER.
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