Is It Really "New"?

As the "New" Year is approaching, I—as usual—have not prepared to do something "new." But I instead have already prepared myself to wonder and ponder what the New Year is "really" for. What will it bring? Who does it for? (Whom?) I even foolishly wonder: Why "New" Year at all? In what way is it different from the "old" or "previous" year?

When I was still a little boy in elementary school, I always heard people (my teachers, specifically) say: "Start doing something new now that it’s New Year." Not until now do I wonder why we have to wait until the "New" Year before we come to realize that we "need" or "have to" or simply "want to" do something "new"?

Probably, something that we wish or ought to do isn’t "new" at all. It is what we usually call a "change." Change to make things better? Worse? Worst?

For me, the word "newness" then is "a change." That is, when we say that we want to do something new, it simply means, "we want to change something."

During the "Changing" Year, some change their habits. Some become hard workers; others, shirkers or malingerers. Some may plan to change their hairstyles, haircuts. Some plan to lose fat? Others to gain some? (I would choose the latter, as I am soooo t-h-i-n.) Some may plan to change studying habits—and I would certainly be one of them.

Whatever you want to, or feel that you need to, change during this Changing Year, I hope it is a better change. And when I say that it is "better," it means I will not make something "new" at all. But I will simply "change" for the better.

Happy Changing Year…