To My Magnificent Agents, Staff, and Friends:
For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
T.S. Elliot
Congratulations! We have all gained another year’s worth of experience and wisdom to add to the story found in our book of life. Hopefully, your 2011 content was sufficient to fill a chapter rather than a footnote. I know that it is the tradition of the New Year’s holiday to make resolutions. I don’t condemn that practice, but, it is an exercise that has now become famously noted for its futility. I, rather embrace the observation of Ellen Goodman, the columnist for the Boston Globe who wrote, “We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives… not looking for flaws, but for potential.” In keeping with that theme, here are a few New Year “wishes” that I hold out for you and myself:
May your hair, your teeth, your face-lift, your abs and your stocks not fall; and may your blood pressure, your triglycerides, your cholesterol, your white blood count and your mortgage interest not rise.
May New Year’s Eve find you seated around the table, together with your beloved family and cherished friends. May you find the food better, the environment quieter, the cost much cheaper, and the pleasure much more fulfilling than anything else you might ordinarily do that night.
May what you see in the mirror delight you, and what others see in you delight them. May someone love you enough to forgive your faults, be blind to your blemishes, and tell the world about your virtues.
May the telemarketers wait to make their sales calls until you finish dinner, may the commercials on TV not be louder than the program you have been watching, and may your check book and your budget balance – and include generous amounts for charity.
May all your troubles last as long as your New Year’s resolutions.
May you remember to say “I love you” at least once a day to your spouse, your child, your parent, your siblings; but not to your secretary, your nurse, your masseuse, your hairdresser or your tennis instructor.
May we live in a world at peace and with the awareness of God’s love in every sunset, every flower’s unfolding petals, every baby’s smile, every lover’s kiss, and every wonderful, astonishing, miraculous beat of our heart.
And may your 2012 from beginning to end be AWE-full
We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter begins New Year’s Day.
Edith Lovejoy Pierce
Happy New Year!
Bill