By:Arnold Bornstein
- We will make considerably fewer misstakes (make that mistakes) and wrong decisions than we did last year.
- A new law will prohibit construction of more warehouses in our area.
- The next motorist who speeds past you and gives you a dirty look (or worse) will be nabbed by a cop up ahead.
- Princeton will move past Harvard and Yale in the nation’s perception and image.
- The Federal Communications Commission will rule that advertisers will have to pay you to watch their commercials.
- The Jets and Giants will make it to the Super Bowl — even next year if not this one.
- Somebody at The Cranbury Press or in The Princeton Packet chain will be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
- Our computers will rarely crash and our Internet servers will minimize disconnecting us.
- A legal guarantee will be given that repairs to the Staten Island Expressway will be completed in your lifetime or a monetary penalty (from bridge and road tolls) will be paid to your heirs.
- Several of your dreams will come true.
- We will hear less ambulance and police car sirens and more laughter and singing.
- The Mets will again face the Yankees in the World Series and win this one.
- Atlantic City visits will result in an unusually higher number of winners among area residents.
- If you walk out on a movie prior to the midpoint, you will be entitled to a refund.
- A new law will prevent the further removal of trees and woodlands.
- The hordes of Canadian geese in our area will retire and relocate.
- Our golf game will improve through the rigorous pursuit of pro lessons and extensive practice and playing. Mindful of the Florida recount: All strokes shall be counted!
- The New Jersey Devils will again win the Stanley Cup.
- Stop and Shop will prove to be a substantial improvement over its predecessors.
- We will worry and get angry less and roll with the punches more.
- Developers will be urged to promote the residential and commercial attractiveness of building in the wide-open spaces of the Dakotas and Montana and elsewhere.
- We will cheat less when it comes to fat and cholesterol.
- Our vacations will be even better than last year.
- The Nets and the Knicks will make it to the NBA playoffs.
- Aggravation from our boss will diminish substantially.
- Education will be easier and seem like less of a chore.
- Our families, children and grandchildren will become an even greater preoccupation.
- Humanity will at last come to the realization that it could also became an endangered species.
- Our winter will be mild, our spring and fall delightful, and our summer not too hot.
By the way, our emphasis on wishes (or resolutions) for the new year, particularly if you’re wishing for a mild winter, brings to mind the concept of counting our blessings.
Only eight days ago, Dec. 21, marked the winter solstice and the official beginning of winter. A fellow journalist in Alaska named Dwayne Atwood, wrote a front-page article in the Anchorage Daily News on Dec. 21, which began as follows:
“Feeling a little cranky? Tired? Check the calendar and you will know why.
“Today is winter solstice, that time of year when we bottom out on sunlight. For Anchorage residents, that means we will see what passes for sunrise at 10:14 a.m. at 3:42 p.m., before many of us even start the commute home from work, darkness will set in.
“Doctors and psychologists know what the lack of sunlight does to us. We can get irritable, sluggish and crave so much starch that we pack on the pounds….”
Picture if you will, in our area, if sunrise came at around 10:14 AM and sunset at about 3:42 p.m.
The Anchorage reporter, Atwood, goes on to write that a number of residents there spending $299 for “light boxes, which more and more people have turned to for that daily dose of light.”
Another reportedly popular item, Atwood writes, “is a $190 dawn simulator that brings up bedroom lights gradually around the time you wake up.”
Hawaiian vacations have become popular for Alaskans, and the article quotes one Anchorage travel agent as saying, “After weeks of working outside in five feet of snow, you are ready for some sunshine.”
So in returning to our winter weather in central New Jersey and its potential for “winter blues,” be mindful of the wisdom of counting your blessings!
Whatever happens, a Happy and Healthy New Year to all!