What Does the New Year Mean to You!

A New Year is an opportunity to look back, remember and analyze the 366-page volume of events and memories of 2016.  For good or for bad, depending on your personal perspective, the Book of 2016 is now about to be history.  It cannot be changed.  But, looking back to assess and learn from the past year is healthy. However, keep in mind that 2016 and any one year is but a fraction of our centuries of history. 

Now, I know that most of us may not regard the New Year celebration as a time for profound thought on the passage of time. 


Instead, we want a "happy" New Year rather than one that is overly somber in deep thoughts. So, we embrace a highly spirited, festive way of bringing in the new year. Perhaps the majority of us enjoy a dinner or buffet at home or gather at a favorite food establishment where we are entertained. Many of us observe the huge, cheering countdown of the last seconds of the year by some two million people fully engaged in the descent of a huge ball at Times Square in New York. 

Those who take the daring challenge to spend a cold day and/or evening at Times Square bearing the cacophony of millions of sounds and many private, personal inconveniences deserve our heartfelt thanks for providing the rest of the world a most enjoyable viewing of the 109-year-old tradition that started at Times Square on December 31, 1907 and has continued annually, except for 1942 and 1943, in deference to our troops far from home during World War II.

Through the years, I have tried to put it together to make some sense of

it all.  I remember when we had no television, let alone instant news. There were parties with families and friends. We celebrated with traditional meals, had lively conversations, games for adults and children and at the big moment of midnight, one or two counted down last seconds to the cheers, hugs and kisses of all, as they repeated shouts of "Happy New Year". My wife distinctly recalls that everyone would then go out into the streets of her South Brooklyn neighborhood banging on pots and pans, greeting neighbors and passersby. Personally, I recall that I didn't understand why, on that particular occasion, everyone had to hug everyone else present. Neither did I understand until much later why some people were crying.  

I hope this echoes with you in some way. But now, as a person of advancing years, I think of my relationships within my family, circle of friends, and associates and my personal understanding of God.  I think about what I have done: accomplishments and mistakes, and what I still want to do. For me the new year has become more thoughtful, more relaxed, low-keyed and still rather pleasant. It’s one more opportunity to get it right, to learn something new and to touch someone in a way that makes their life just a bit better.

I wish everyone reading or hearing this message, a happy new year, emphasizing that “happiness”, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is a state of well-being and contentment, joy, a pleasurable or satisfying experience; and “happiness”, as referenced in Thesaurus, is synonymous with gladness, aptness, cheerfulness, delight, glee, bliss, and felicity. 

Reaching for all this may sound challenging, but you can start by writing your own New Year Book with 365 blank pages, filling them one day at a time with your hopes and dreams, always being open to seize each day’s opportunities.

Tag: SC columnist , writer and community service advocate, Dick Fortunato, welcomes comments at dick617@gmail.com