THE GLAD NEW YEAR.
Observer, Volume XXXIII, Issue 17, 4 January 1913, Page 2
About this newspaper
THE GLAD NEW YEAR.
Another Milestone
IN our measurement • of time January 1 gives room for a good deal of indulgence in •sentiment. The middle aged traveller between the milestones of life is not necessarily exuberant that old Father Time has another gap in his scythe or a" grain of sand fewer in his hourglass. 4 The passing of the years means the passing of the hairs, the coming of the telltale crows-feet round the eyes, the slackening step, the thought that the passing of a very few years—we will say the extreme number of 100 — means the passing of the whole population of the earth under it. Because of these thoughts, the'average man is supposed to regard the coming of New Year's Day as a time when he may get his ' resolves for
another twelve months in good working order. As a matter of fact, if he has been a bad lot up to December 31, 1912, he is not likely to become a terrestial angel by January 1, 1913, for individual human nature does not change and there are no reformed Scrooges in real life.
A man is made at birth and fashioned by environment. If he is well-born—that is, healthily born, he will probably have few regrets at each recurring January 1, and no violent antipathy to going comfortably to sleep for the last time when the call comes " for all the ways of death are calm and sweet." The death of the old .year is signalised in many countries by various observances that generally go to show that the old year dies hard and that its funeral is a noisy affair. One never knows quite why one should rejoice with steam sirens and the beating of cans, or even by absorbing unwanted liquor that one's time on earth is shortened by the passing of a year. It would be more reasonable to rejoice at the putting back of the clock if that were possible. In the great world of which the cable and the big ship and ** wireless " bring us faint echoes, 1912 has been a year of tremendous happenings. Early in 1912 kindly old gentlemen in peaceful surroundings told us how wicked it was to go to war, predicted the near approach of universal brotherhood, and generally presumed that the time had arrived when " the lion should lie down with the lamb and the asp should play on the hole of the cockatrice's den." While the kindly Cherrybles talked, the ceaseless ' din of great shipyards, bristling with death-dealing machines of destruction, was heard.
Just as in the new years of the Christian era, men preached peace with a sword in their hands, so today. Human nature has not changed. So on Wednesday, January 1, 1913, you will be precisely the same kind of man you were on Tuesday, December 31. If it is necessary on Wednesday for you to resolve to be a decent citizen, a kind father, or a good husband, what sort of a failure have you been through the year ? And as, of course, you have been an example to your kind all the year, what's the good of making resolves ? '• They that are whole," etc. The New Zealander who has lived through 1912 and has seen the steady progress of his peaceful little country may be under the impression that steady progress has something to do with large speeches by politicians from various platforms. The largest speech or the most intricate Act ever fashioned never increased a cow's butter fat output, grew one blade of grass or one. pound- .of, wool, one ounce of gold,,or one .•.. : nub",pf coal. A country thrives despite ..-its politicians and not beca-use, ,o£ them. .• . •.» .'■,>.. -' * •■•-:{; <:■-,«.'/•■ ■ When you are turning the pages, of the old year to get a clean page for the 1913 entries, may there be few old blots to repine over. If you are a normal man or woman, with a normal physical outfit, yoii've got cause to be thankful that you live in New Zealand, where the highest tyoe of happiness can be gained by hard work — for yourself and others. Perhaps you're . worried with class consciousness or solidarity or something of the kind. The cure is work. There can be no progress in the world or in New Zealand without work. It is the panacea for all troubles. To make a resolve to work to the top of one's power is the very highest resolve. The people who work have no time for tears, and the passing of the years will only ripen and not rot them. The coming of the New Year means the cessation of those bright days of freedom from toil which are so essential to the value of the world's work. The holiday may have infused a largei tolerance of one's fellow man. Intolerance is merely ill-health and sunshine and social joys are antidotes to ill-health. To the pessimist therefore a busier liver, to the idle work, to the timid a stout heart, to the strong the chance to use their strength—and to all people living in the beautiful Land of Hope A Ha?py New Year.
