Harry Pears

The same as last year’s New Year post? Maybe; I have forgotten. Just another cliché? Yes, most definitely.

So. A new year, a new decade. A new start? There are many things a new year may be, but a new start is not one of them.

In middle school, the head teacher would always do the same assembly at the start of each term. He would crumple a piece of paper up and throw it away. He would then have a blank piece of paper; a new start; a clean slate. But really? No, not at all. Everyone knows what you did the previous term. Everyone remembers your mistakes.

The same goes for New Years. People may choose to forget other peoples’ mistakes, but it isn’t a new start. Tell yourself it’s a new start, please do, but it isn’t a new start.

Despite this, I will be going with the whole new start business – the New Year seems like a convenient time to set personal goals and challenges. A time to change. But, why do we want to change who we are? Well, I suppose that doesn’t really need answering.

But why do we do this? Celebrate, and make a big deal out of, the fact that twelve months has passed and we will start naming our days from January again?

Personally, the only reason I take an interest in the New Year is because everyone else does; I’m a sheep. My parents couldn’t care less about the New Year, and so the last time I celebrated it was 1999/2000 when some friends had a party. Alas, I was only 5 and a half, and all I remember is waking up when everyone started yelling the countdown. But I was there, in the circle, arms crossed holding hands, with everyone around me drunkenly attempting Auld Lang Syne as the clocks ticked around to midnight.

But that is besides the point.

What I am trying to say, is that time and dates are really just a universal, age-old system, to ensure that people do not miss their train, right? So what are we celebrating? Is it just another reason to drink excessively? Or is there a reason?

If I had to choose one reason why the New Year is one of the lesser more important “dates in my diary”, it would be that the New Year is a time to reflect on the previous year, and, I guess, to be grateful for what we have.

And I’m not just talking materialistically. This past year, I have made a few really good friends. (I did say it would be clichéd; this next comment even more so). One of which, I trust with anything. And I have only known them a year. (Told you so).

And then there are the experiences. I’m almost positive I will never forget going to see The Wombats in July, or going to Ireland in August, or Summer camp.

It’s these things that mean something to me; that I want to remember. The New Year seems as good a time as any to collect up all these memories to look back on in years to come. Especially the childhood friends (if you can still call them that when you get to 15/16)?

I came across a blog post, detailing some guy’s Christmas card list. He states “As for the hundreds of kids I went to school with, they’ve all fallen completely off radar.” And, certainly with my parents, that appears to be the normal thing to happen. My mother still keeps in contact with one or two of her school friends, and as for my father, I am not aware of any that he is still in touch with.

When you think about it quickly, you will probably think, “Oh, that’s understandable. You move on, go to uni, get a job, and end up living on the other side of the country.” But, really, is this how it should be? I suppose you can’t really argue with it, because that is the way it is, although, it shouldn’t be this way.

Childhood friends, especially those who you are closest to from ages 13/14 until 17/18 are, at least from my position as a 15 year old guy, some of the most important people in your lives. You grow up and develop around them. They influence you, change you, shape your personality. They become a part of you. You can put your ultimate trust in a close childhood friend, and do things you would never do with anyone else. (And no, I am not talking about the swapping of bodily fluids. Although…No, just no).

So to me, the New Year is a time to reflect the good, and the bad, points from the previous year. To remember how grateful I should be. And I guess to also think ahead; to set targets, have ambitions. Resolutions.

Now, resolutions. Why do we only talk about resolutions at New Year? Surely resolutions should be kept and made throughout the year. Otherwise, wouldn’t the, I don’t know how to phrase it… The standard of humanity, I guess, decline as the year went on? When Christmas arrives, no one is still keeping to the resolutions they pledged to twelve months prior, are they?

I suppose I do have some resolutions myself. A couple of which were made with others, and involve social interaction. My main target for the next year, however silly I find the idea of “resolutions”, will probably to cease procrastinating and find motivation. Finding motivation sounds virtually impossible though…

Here’s to another, (hopefully) successful, enjoyable and brilliant, year, and decade, then!