HAPPY NEW YEAR! (TAKE TWO)
One of my new year's resolutions was to write a weekly blog, in addition to the daily tidbits of history/humor and the annual Christmas short story I dispense. With this week's Tuesday Blog, I am now half way through the year and the resolution remains intact. Much better than my other resolutions, but let's not go there.
I did see an article in US News and World Report to the effect that 80% of New Year's resolutions evaporate by mid-February. While pleased to be an elite 20 percenter (Mitt Romney would be proud), the intent here is not to be self-congratulatory, but rather to offer yet another public minded service.
It's a bit of work and I had been thinking of calling it a year (okay, half year) and stopping the blogs, when the GAC Family network began advertising "Christmas in July," wherein Christmas themed romcoms will air half way through the year (and only weeks it seems before the retailers begin setting up holiday displays). This got me thinking: since New Year's follows on the heels of Christmas, indeed is one of the "12 Days", why not New Year's in July? Stay with me, I think I'm on to something.
The problem with resolutions is they are tedious (losing weight requires EFFORT), and the year is LONG. So the natural tendency is to let the good intentions fall by the wayside. But what if there was a New Year's style celebration periodically throughout the year, to help kick start anew the resolution process? How hard could it be to coax Ryan Seacrest and one million drunken New Yorkers to congregate in early July and watch a lighted ball drop while we similarly imbibe, and so fortified, renew the resolution? (It often takes strong drink to belly up to the resolution bar).
Of course, that means making it at least through June with one's resolve still intact. How to get from New Year's to New Year's in July? What falls mid-way between? Ah, Lent. All that stuff you're supposed to give up...why not seize on that as a renewal of the New Year's pledges? Note to Pope Francis: there may be a marketing angle here you can seize upon. No need to thank me. Just doing my Christian duty.
Just one problem I see. How do we get from New Year's in July to the end of the year? We need another reason to reaffirm our resolutions say around October. Advent is similar to Lent, but is way too close to the end of the year. Lent in the Fall? Lacks pizzazz. Wait. Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) falls in September and we are supposed to be of ecumenical spirit, so what the heck. L'chaim!
