If you were feeling snarky, and had web access this week, with little effort you could have surfed onto any one of a dozen different blog entries and essays sniping about how 2013 won’t be a Happy New Year after all.
Depressed commentators can rightfully point to a range of resources to fuel their pessimism; the ongoing gridlock in Congress, the decline of religious faith in American life, the diminishing spending power of a dollar, the erosion of civil liberties, pollution, the environment, mass media, and on and on and on.
Some of these essays were funny; some were downright depressing, almost all had at least a kernel of truth at their core.
If this spate of essays proved anything, it’s that anyone who wants to keep themselves depressed can find an endless variety of ways to do so.
Thing is, as every athlete knows, a sure-fire way to guarantee defeat is to enter the contest thinking you’re going to lose.
We refuse to start our year like that. Yes, things are tough. It has been tough sledding for a while and it will be for a while yet, but this is nothing we can’t handle.
This is going to be a Happy New Year. We will accept no less.
