Happy New Year 2014

I know that it's only a day. A day like all others. This year, it's a Wednesday -- that ignominious middle of the week, no-mans-land hump day -- to start the year. Why does New Years Day hold us collectively in such thrall? It's not as if each year we celebrate a sort of Jubilee where all debts are forgiven and we are released from contractual obligations. No, January 1st will find us just as indentured and indebted as today. Strangers will stay strangers, family will be family and friends will remain friends (assuming a modicum of restraint tonight). But somehow we collectively breath a sigh of relief that the past 365 are behind us and then joyfully look forward to the possibilities of another year. We dress up, drink up and take up the challenges that lie ahead with optimism and good cheer. Tarnish behind, luster ahead. Tonight at midnight the world will take a collective cleansing breath and turn its back on the frustrations, failures and foibles of 2013. We will look ahead with glee to the promise of a better 2014. And that is what makes this day special. It is the one day of the year that we give ourselves full permission to forgive the past and anticipate the future (perhaps we would each be better off if we practiced this pseudo-amnesia more often). We are eager and able, energized and optimistic; ready to make the world - our own worlds at least - a better place. So lift your glasses, watch the ball drop (or potato, tangerine, sardine, peach, watermelon or whatever) and Happy New Year! May your days ahead be filled with all the blessings of Health, Peace, Love and Family.