My Take: Resolutions and 'Auld Lang Syne'
Two traditions can complicate a New Year’s celebration — singing "Auld Lang Syne" and making resolutions. While Robert Burns is credited for the lyrics, he himself admits some were “collected” from other writers. Oh brother. Surely, he must have resolved to refrain from such “collecting” in the future.
Few know the meaning of those strange Scottish words. Take the title. Scholars say these words translate into English as “old long since” or “long, long ago” or “days gone by” or “old times.” Take your pick. It gets harder. I can understand “should old acquaintance be forgot” but fumble when I stumble on to such lines as:
And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp
And I’ll surely be mine
or
We twa hae run about the braes
And pu’d the gowans fine
or
We twa hae paidl’d the burn,
Frae mornin sun till din”
Of course, an English translation helps. Whether Mr. Burns would recognize it is open to question:
And surely you will pay for your pint vessel!
And surely, I will pay for mine
We two have run about the hillsides
And pulled the wild daisies fin
We two have paddled in the streams
From morning sun till noon
Supposedly the Scots first burst into song at the stroke of midnight on the last day of the year 1788 — or thereabouts. Surely all the gowans would have been plucked from the braes by then. But soon after, the song of the misty isles began its bag-piped voyage round the world.
It gained in popularity here when Canadian band leader Guy Lombardo and his “Royal Canadians” slipped across the border and with their “Sweetest music this side of Heaven” and played Syne on the radio for the first time from New York City on New Year’s Eve, 1929. They kept the tradition alive for next 47 years!
I close my eyes today and hear Lombardo’s music still — slow, solemn, mournful. It brings tears, not cheers. If I were into resolutions, I’d suggest something different — like Kate Smith belting out "God Bless America" or a military band trumpeting Sousa’s "The Stars and Stripes Forever!" HooRah! Both show love of country and enthusiasm for the future. No tears or sighs.
I didn’t make any resolutions this year. If I had I would have resolved to pay but little attention to experts. Just look at the mid-term elections. The predicted “red wave” never made it to shore. The experts lacked expertise. And when it comes to economics, politics, earth science and most everything in between, many of the experts can only agree to disagree.
But they do agree that most people who make resolutions fail to keep them. That’s no surprise. Most resolutions focus on our imagined inadequacies. And our chance of removing them takes commitment and hard work. So, by end of the first month resolutions become more curse than cure. And we fail, which delivers another blow to self-esteem. That’s not good.
Seems like building on our strengths can be a better path to follow.
I’ve found life more pleasant when it’s not encumbered with resolutions and get-better schemes. I’ve decided to stay as I am. I’m used to me. I am what I am. And it would take a prodigious amount of resolve for me to change. More simply, I like the way I am — wrinkles and warts may there be. Even if misguided, I’m glad that’s how it turned out to be. It offers contentment and happiness.
I hope others feel the same. And come New Year’s Eve they find a book and a quiet corner — and time to turn the pages from the old to the new — and experience a peaceful and personal New Year’s interlude.
— Dick Magee is a resident of Klinger Lake and a frequent columnist for the Journal’s opinion page.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: My Take: Resolutions and 'Auld Lang Syne'
