New Year’s Eve, 2023, will soon lie behind us.

And for many people, saying “Goodbye” to 2023 can’t happen soon enough.

New Year’s Eve is traditionally a time for people to reflect on the major events of the previous 12 months. Some of these are highly personal. Others have been shared by the entire country.

Some of these remembrances inevitably bring pleasure. Others bring pain.

And 2023 has been a year of pain for millions.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin continued to violently assault Ukraine. Despite a series of military setbacks, he continued to hurl missiles at Russia’s “brother nation.” Many Ukrainians spent a second Christmas without electricity or running water.
• On October 7, the Hamas terrorist group launched an attack on Israel, slaughtering 1,400 men, women and children and kidnapping at least 250 others. Israel responded with massive airstrikes and ground assault on Gaza, killing upwards of 20,000.

Emblem of Hamas

• In the United States, Donald Trump continued to lie that he had been cheated of victory in the 2020 Presidential election. His lie resonated with millions of Fascistic Americans, including members of Congress.
• And he prepared to run again for President—even as he faced 91 felony counts in four criminal cases. Determined to make himself “President-for-Life,” he posed the single greatest threat to American democracy in its history.

But 2023 also brought reason for hope:

• Republicans remained lethal but divided, ousting Kevin McCarthy, their own Speaker of the House and threatening to cannibalize others in their quest for dictatorial power.
• The COVID-19 pandemic had been largely contained, although the virus posed a lethal threat to those refusing to get vaccinated.
• Conscious of the dangers of climate change, Americans made wind, solar and hydropower more than 20 percent of the power supply.

Every New Year’s Eve celebration brings the fantasy that you get to start fresh in a matter of hours. And with that fantasy comes hope—that, this time, you can put your sorrows and failures behind you. 

And each new year comes with lessons to be learned—and applied.

Each year gives us the chance to learn from history—our own and that of others. Try to learn from your mistakes—and especially those of others. With luck, you won’t repeat your past ones—or those of others. But don’t expect to lead a mistake-free life. 

There is a time to be bold—and a time to be cautious. As Niccolo Machiavelli put it: “A prince….must imitate the fox and the lion: For the lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves.”  Learn to tell when is the appropriate time to be which—and to play that role to the hilt. 

Niccolo Machiavelli

There is image—and there is reality.  J.P. Morgan once said: “A man always has two reasons for doing anything: A good reason and the real reason.” This is never truer than when a corporation or politician is asking for your money / vote.

When trying to decide whether to commit yourself to either, ask yourself: Who benefits? For example: When studying a proposed law that claims to aid the environment, find out who supports it. That will usually tell you what you need to know.

Learn how to evaluate others. Once again, Niccolo Machiavelli supplies the answer: “The first impression that one gets of a ruler and his brains is from seeing the men that he has about him. When they are competent and loyal one can always consider him wise, as he has been able to recognize their ability and keep them faithful. 

“But when they are the reverse, one can always form an unfavorable opinion of him, because the first mistake that he makes is in making this choice.” 

Don’t confuse wealth with virtue. Too many Americans believe that God bestows wealth on the worthy. If this were true, every Mafia boss would be a candidate for sainthood.  

Each year is a journey unto itself—filled with countless joys and sorrows. Many of these joys can’t be predicted. And many of these tragedies can’t be prevented.

Learn to tell real dangers from imaginary ones. Computers are real—and sometimes they crash. Men who died 2,000 years ago do not leap out of graveyards, no matter what their disciples predict.

Don’t expect any particular year to usher in the Apocalypse. In any given year there will be wars, famines, earthquakes, riots, floods and a host of other disasters. These have always been with us—and always will be. As Abraham Lincoln once said: “The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.” 

Don’t expect some Great Leader to lead you to success. As Gaius Cassius says in William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”: “Men at some time are masters of their fate. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves that we are underlings.”

Don’t expect any particular year or event to usher in your happiness. To again quote Lincoln: “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

If your life seems to make no sense to you, consider this: The philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once noted: “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”