Happy New YearWhat if its not?

Dorn Simon-Sinnott 2016.

YesJanuary is well under way, and New Year has passed.

Unless one lives by the Lunisolar Calendar used by the Chinese; whom celebrate New
Years in 2016, on February 8th.
Being this year, the Year of the Fire Monkey.

You can read more about their Traditional New Year Practises here.
So; Happy New YearWhat if its not?
Lets ponder that a moment.
Do we mean what we say? Is it mere platitude to even think that statement, much
less say it? Do we actually feel it, absorb its endeavouring meaning? Can everyone
whom registers the date, actually declare it to be true, or even muse whether it could
be elsewhere?

I often wonder how does this tradition truly sit with people; yes, its a tail-end of a
celebratory, family gathering trend, and yes, within the Gregorian Calendar it is, in
fact the New Years commencement; however, how many can honestly pertain to its
hopeful declaration, of it being New? Or Happy.
I empathically sense more of the world today, than ever before, mostly due to the
current state of affairs, or harrowing climate we find ourselves living in, and lets be
honest, are responsible for; I experience far more worldly afflictions now, than I do
my own; believe me thats saying something!
What I am trying to get at, (rather poorly) is, how many would like to stab a guess, at
the number of actual humans to which Happy New Year actually meant just that?
That, they were happy, it was a fresh start, it would be new, and they could fully
relate to this as a change in existence.
My mind crawls over to the numbers of Depressive Illness sufferers, all Mental
Health Ailment sufferers, to be fairhow many more suicidal thoughts were grasped
that night, that day, when their world didnt, and possibly couldnt, in their mind's
eye, change, or be happy, or new.
(If you are suffering, whether alone, or not, please dont feel that help isnt available; it is. Try
locally, but for starters, Try here. I must admit, my local voluntary group, in Wexford, Ireland; Its
Good To Talk, were invaluable to my finding my feet again).

The Homeless;

The influx of homeless families in total, not just a mere addict on the street begging,
nor a middle-aged man, down on his luck; but entire families, on the streets, having
been evicted from their homes, that were whipped up in the Celtic Tiger, only to
bankrupt us all, into the evictions that were still ongoing the week before Christmas
2015; causing a 71% increase in adults and children using emergency
accommodation services, since November 2014. Read the full article here.

Homelessness Statistics Ireland 2015 can be viewed here.

Then one must think of the millions suffering atrocities across this wide Earth, and
inequalities, governed by Religious fervour; the travesties of Global Governments,
and the growth of International Terrorism, and the ensuing, reactionary fear, across
the Globe.

Refugees of all Creeds; LGBTQ; War-Afflicted Citizens; Africas, Indias, and

Cambodias Starving; The latter, now not alone, when even people in Ireland find
themselves nearing the possibility of starvation to try to keep their homes; Homeless,
whether by eviction, or sadly, for some, the only choice; the list is never-ending.

Far be it for me to dampen the air, with such depressing facts; though the facts are
real; it even touches me, on a personal struggle level, in more than one of the above
categories mentioned; so how, I ask again, can we so flippantly exclaim, Happy New
Year, in the world with which we live in, this past New Years Day?
I say; let us remember...for many, It Is Notthen; I say, let us do something about
it!
Resolutions, yes, these self-induced challenges are rather frequent this time of year
lets use them, not only to better ourselves, our own lives; lets step one foot further,
and help another, by any of the following means:
Kindness: In your thoughts, your words, your actions, your reactions.
Acceptance: Of differences, Nationalities, Class, Creeds, Lifestyles.
Equality: Across the board, in Health, Wealth, Race, Orientation, Human Rights,
Choice.
Love: Know that every single living being on this Earth, belongs to this Earth,
wherever they reside, that even those you have been conditioned, or brainwashed to
hate, are no different to you at the atom level, and that they too, love their family,
their country, their ideal of living.

Let each, solitary, one of us, make the platitude, the traditional blurb, an actuality,
for more across this damaged world, let us each make this a Happy New Year.