[28HopUp]

The following note was authored by my old high school band teacher, Paul L. Parets, which he posted on Facebook. I thought it was worth sharing -

"There is, in fact, no "New Year"... The only thing that separates 2012 from 2013 is one split second, which occurs at midnight. We get up in the morning on January 1st with the same loves, the same hopes, the same fears, the same people around us, the same world with it's tragedies and triumphs... and for some, a hang-over. We are told that the New Year is a time for change in our lives, but that change could have occured on any day we chose to make it. Our New Year's resolutions quickly slip into empty promises made to ourselves, because they were idle hopes rather than firm resolves. Worse, we often use New Year's eve to brood on how unfair life was to us, how unkind others were to us, and why we didn't get everything we wanted. It just might be the most self-centered celebration of the year.
If the New Year has any real meaning, it is this - that we pause for a few hours on one day and think about what we could have done and might yet do. That we forget our petty grievances and ask for forgiveness from all those we wronged. That on January 1st, even for one day, we put others before ourselves. That we remember that happiness is not what others do for us, but what we do for others, and that we will try to make life a little better, a little easier, for them. If we can do that, THEN we can celebrate a New Year!"


In addition, please be safe tonight, my friends!