Happy new year.....

You do it, I do it, it seems that all of us do it and if we didn't someone would cry "Bah, Humbug" at us...

But WHY do we say "Happy new year" to each other?

Is it just a polite greeting?
Would they NOT have one if we didn't say it?

Perhaps then we MUST say it, in case lots of bad things happen to them, Heaven forbid!

But, do we really MEAN that we want our friends to have a happy year ahead? Is the "pursuit of happiness" an unalienable right, as the American Declaration of Independence would have us believe?

The expression "pursuit of happiness" was coined by Dr. Samuel Johnson in his 1759 novel "Rasselas". In the novel, Rasselas observation of other kinds of people eventually leads to the conclusion that there is no easy path to happiness.

Life is difficult. Happiness in life does not come easy. It is during the struggles of life that often we are happiest, even though we may only realise it in restrospect.

So - I do wish you all a Happy new year, one where the path is not always straight, and trouble and pain are not absent.

You may not realise how Happy it really was until this time, next year.....