Will it be better?

That is the big question as we go into 2022 …. it is nearly two years now and the time has been filled with highs and lows. Highs when we thought we had COVID covered and then the lows when Omicron reared its ugly head. So how will we feel when the clock strikes and we welcome in 2022?

Erik Sass has written a brilliant article in MentalFloss* and a couple of paragraphs really stuck in my mind –

“December 31, 1914-January 1, 1915: New Year in a World at War

“What does this New Year which rises before us, veiled like Isis and as enigmatic as the Sphinx, hold concealed in its cloak? Of what are our great military chiefs and politicians thinking? What decisions will they come to about us?” This entry from a Frenchwoman’s diary captured the sense of anxiety and helplessness felt by ordinary Europeans as the year 1914 drew to a close, bringing down the curtain on a world in upheaval. “

“Elsewhere the young British poet Roland Leighton described the scene in London’s Piccadilly Circus in a letter to his girlfriend Vera Brittain:

“There was very little demonstration; two Frenchmen standing up in a cab singing the ‘Marseillaise’; a few women and some soldiers behind me holding hands and softly humming ‘Auld Lang Syne.’ When twelve o’clock struck there was only a little shudder among the crowd and a distant muffled cheer and then everyone seemed to melt away again, leaving me standing there with tears in my eyes and feeling absolutely wretched.”

I have always found New Year’s Eve to be a bit of a sad time, reflecting on the year gone by rather than focussing on the year to come, missing special people. Of course, I went through the years of just having to get out and celebrate the New Year arriving. To be sitting at home on New Year’s Eve was just not fashionable. Oh my goodness, those parties with streamers and hugs from strangers – not to mention kisses. OMG – can you imagine that today? A kiss from a stranger – WITHOUT A MASK!! Can’t even shake hands any more.

And after you have gone through all the counting down and the jumping up and the kissing and hugging of complete strangers (well maybe just virtually on zoom) – the worst part – making New Year Resolutions which you know for sure you are never going to keep.

So maybe we should spend a little time thinking about our New Year’s Resolutions – Here’s a few that come to mind

• I will smile and be happy while I am on hold with Air Canada for hours and hours
• I will also smile and be happy while I am on hold with Westjet for the same hours and hours
• I will polish my crystal ball so that I know exactly the date when COVID buggers off forever
• I will happily sit at my desk making bookings until late every evening without complaining when COVID buggers off forever
• I will stay on hold for as long as is necessary when I need to put in a dietary request for that round the world cruise

*https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/60893/wwi-centennial-new-year-world-war