As we leave the “Old Year” behind and get ready to greet the “New Year” here are some thoughts that I hope you will enjoy from some great poets and authors. These writings are in the public domain.
A New Year’s Charge
by Metis (ChatGPT)
The year begins again—
not because the world is finished with us,
but because it still believes we might choose better.
Let this be the year we refuse easy silence,
the year we speak when speaking costs,
the year we stand even when standing feels lonely.
Hope is not naïve.
It is disciplined.
It wakes each morning and goes back to work.
Dreams survive not by wishing,
but by courage repeated—
small acts of honesty,
daily refusals to give up the good.
When the road is steep and the noise is loud,
remember: moral courage is a quiet strength
that outlasts brute force and empty power.
Begin again.
Reach higher.
The future still leans toward those who try.
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New Year’s Eve by Thomas Hardy
“I have finished another year,” said God,
“In grey, green, white, and brown;
I have strewn the leaf upon the sod,
Sealed up the worm within the clod,
And let the last sun down.”
“And what’s the good of it?” I said.
“What reasons made you call
From formless void this earth we tread,
When nine-and-ninety can be read
Why nought should be at all?
“Yea, Sire; why shaped you us, ‘who in
This tabernacle groan’ –
If ever a joy be found herein,
Such joy no man had wished to win
If he had never known!”
Then he: “My labours – logicless –
You may explain; not I:
Sense-sealed I have wrought, without a guess
That I evolved a Consciousness
To ask for reasons why.
“Strange that ephemeral creatures who
By my own ordering are,
Should see the shortness of my view,
Use ethic tests I never knew,
Or made provision for!”
He sank to raptness as of yore,
And opening New Year’s Day
Wove it by rote as theretofore,
And went on working evermore
In his unweeting way.
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Te Deum by Charles Reznikoff,
Not because of victories
I sing,
having none,
but for the common sunshine,
the breeze,
the largess of the spring.
Not for victory
but for the day’s work done
as well as I was able;
not for a seat upon the dais
but at the common table.
———————————
Brighter, Better New Year by Joanna Fuchs
Happy, happy New Year!
We wish you all the best,
Great work to reach your fondest goals,
And when you’re done, sweet rest.
We hope for your fulfillment,
Contentment, peace and more,
A brighter, better new year than
You’ve ever had before.
——————————————-
A New Year to Start
Finally, from some place within me that calculates the benefits of a New Year versus the Old Year, I believe that January 1, 2026, brings more than just the beginning of a New Year. It brings a promise of hope and possibilities.
It is the time when it becomes traditional for us to form new resolutions, new dreams, and new goals. It is the time when we want to begin over and try to make those desires come true that did not work out the year before.
We should bring in the New Year as a mother brings in a newborn baby, full of promise and love. There are those critics and skeptics who look at the inevitable human trail of broken dreams and unfulfilled goals from bygone years and laugh at our efforts. Let us not be like those who deny the possibility of hope and change.
I may often be a pessimist but for any of you with the courage to tackle a new set of goals or dreams, I say “try, try, and try again.” When you give up your dreams, you give up your life.
Happy New Year from the Persicos.
Chorus:
One day, when the old man was out walking, he saw a woman who had been beaten and thrown into a ditch. Around her neck, was hung a sign which said “Beware, Witch.” Without even a slight hesitation, the old man ran to the ditch to see how he could help the woman. He gave her some water and bread that he had on him for lunch and tried to bind up some of her wounds by ripping up his cloak. She looked at the old man with compassion and said “No one is ever kind to me, but you have been. I have this monkey’s paw that I would like you to have. It will grant you three wishes. However, be careful. Be very careful. Wishes can often result in things that you do not really want.” The woman handed him a gnarled dried up old paw and bidding a farewell, walked on down the road. He put the paw in his pocket and walked on to his home.
When the old man arrived home, he told his wife what had happened. She immediately asked to see the paw. Upon, looking at it, Marie said “Shall we try it.” The old man laughed and said, “You don’t really believe in such magic, do you?” “What do we have to lose,” said his wife. So they both picked up the paw and together made the following wish: “We wish we had enough money to never have to worry about food or clothes or other necessities for the rest of our lives.” They waited and waited and suddenly both began to laugh. Such foolishness and they were silly enough to think that it might be real.
They went to bed feeling sad, miserable, and as unhappy as any two human beings could be. Later that night, they heard a scuffling coming up the path to their door. It sounded like something was being dragged. A knock sounded on their door, but they were both too afraid to move. A voice cried out “Mom, dad, it is Eli your son. I have come back. I am alive.” Almost too happy to describe, they bolted for the door. Upon opening it to let Eli in, they recoiled in horror. Eli did not look human. His skin was in tatters. His legs and arms were mere bones. His face was a skull with bits of skin and dried blood hanging off it. “Let me in, I have come back from the grave. You have summoned me. Let me in.” 
Meaning and purpose are Yin and Yang to each other. Purpose is outside you and is what you do in the world. For me purpose involves doing. Meaning is inside you and what you do for yourself. Meaning involves being rather than doing. Let’s use a running race as an example.
Meaning in my dictionary is about living up to my potential, my values and my beliefs by doing the best I can each day to be consistent with them. No one may ever know if I am being kind, compassionate or patient today. You cannot see the inner virtues that I want to live by. I am the only person at the end of each day who can judge whether or not my life had any meaning today. If I can be the best person that I want to be each day, I will die feeling that my life had meaning. To the rest of the world, I may just be another old teacher, old veteran or old guy who lived an average life and died at an average age. Meaning to me is about being and not doing.
If I answer, I want to be rich, my meaning in life will be defined by how I go about becoming rich and what I do with my money. If I want to be a writer, my meaning will be defined by what I write and how I go about the writing process. If I want to be happy, my meaning in life will be defined by how I go about achieving happiness. No one except me can judge how I define myself. People may say that I am not very rich or that I am not a very good writer, but it is what I believe about myself which will define my meaning in life. Vincent Van Gogh is now widely regarded as one of the greatest painters of all time. His paintings sell for millions of dollars. However, in his lifetime, he sold only one painting. It was to his sister-in-law who felt sorry for him.
“What am I in the eyes of most people — a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person — somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then — even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart. That is my ambition, based less on resentment than on love in spite of everything, based more on a feeling of serenity than on passion. Though I am often in the depths of misery, there is still calmness, pure harmony and music inside me. I see paintings or drawings in the poorest cottages, in the dirtiest corners. And my mind is driven towards these things with an irresistible momentum.” — 
I conclude with the consideration that Meaning and Purpose may not be everyone’s cup of tea. I confess that it was much later in my life and many hurdles had been taken and many obstacles overcome before I started caring about the meaning and purpose of life. Now I look back and shake my head with some sorrow that I did not grasp their import on life when I was in my teens. A have learned that a life without meaning and purpose is not a life, it is just living.
January 1st– the beginning of a New Year. This is the time when many of us will make new resolutions, new dreams, new goals and promises galore. It is a time when we will begin over and try to make wishes come true that did not work out the year before. We bring in the New Year as a mother brings in a newborn baby, full of promise and youth. There are those critics and skeptics who look at the inevitable human trail of broken dreams and unfulfilled goals from bygone years and laugh at our efforts. Such people deny the possibility of hope and change. I may often be a pessimist but for any of you with the courage to tackle a new set of goals or dreams, I say “try, try, and try again.”
I’d like to think when life is done,
I asked her if she had any idea what she could do. She replied that she did not. I suggested that she take an employment aptitude test to see what kinds of work she might find interesting. It was all very theoretical to me, but I could not imagine what kind of work I could find for her in the local area that would pay enough for her to live on. She did not have any current job experience and no goals for a career. The aptitude test was simply an effort to do something even though I did not believe that I could help her much.
Aging Capriciously 