New Year: why so much excitement?

Happy New Year! Parties, e-cards, toasts... why all the excitement? It is all encompassed by the word "new." We love "new." We can forget about the "old" and, for a moment, envision "better." Why is a new day, a new month not as exciting? Imagine awakening to a world that appreciates EVERY NEW DAY! Happy New Day... 24 hours of NEW breath, new opportunities, new thinking, new energy. An entire day belonging to each individual, allowing us to make the most of it if we so wish. We can choose to make it the best day ever... Not HUGE choices like at New Year, but tiny little ones: I can smile at strangers, I can think new and different thoughts and explore them, I can put positive effort in to my work, I can appreciate the fact that I breathe freely, I can listen to new music, I can help someone just for the fun of it, I can try to see people I know from different angles and maybe find more attributes in them to make me feel good... Every single day I have the power to fashion the day as I will. Tomorrow is promised to no one, but TODAY is yours! Make it the BEST... and if you are given yet another day tomorrow, make it even better.
Here is wishing you all a wonderful day and a wonderful 2010.

Anti

While writing "An Apricot Tree in Africa," I thought I was writing a coming-of-age narrative. A reader pointed out that it was a book fighting for human rights. Thinking about this statement, I have to concede that there is a lot of truth to it. My brain appears to be wired in such a way, that it is difficult for me to comprehend any "anti."
Of course I feel revulsion for all perpetrators of violence against blameless humans, but the hatred for "the other," the blind following of "statements of fact," (the Jews killed Jesus) or following delusional or political or power-hungry people, I cannot come to terms with.
In the South Africa I grew up in, Africans were considered stupid and lazy, yet they were trusted with bringing up the white children, keeping the houses of the whites clean and shining, cooking, laundry and all and any tasks that came to mind. The Africans were not allowed to sit on a chair in the houses of the white people; they sat on the floor.
The Jews were not allowed to join golf clubs. The "colored" people had their own transport, as they were forbidden to ride on buses meant for the white population. If people find all these "laws" acceptable, I remain the odd man out.