New Year’s Resolutions

Everyone wants to start the New Year off right.

Goal setting is a common trend throughout the year, but New Year’s resolutions seem to draw attention to the problems people want to tackle.

The year is technically a cycle with no definite beginning or conclusion; each season flows smoothly into the next.

However, a marker of our progress through time has existed for many years over a multitude of generations.

While the fundamental purpose has become slightly fuzzy, New Year’s Day has ancient origins that have accompanied resolutions for many centuries.

Although not as many people set resolutions as they used to – only 42 percent of Americans in 2013—students of LRHS have set a few goals they want to achieve in the New Year.

Some 4,000 years ago, historians trace the identification and celebration of the New Year to the Babylonians.

According to an article on livescience.com, “Babylonians celebrated the New Year not in January but in March when the spring harvest came in.”

Records of these early celebrations are largely vague, but the basic outline is known: they celebrated the New Year to crown a new king, and history.com says to make “promises in order to earn the favor of the gods and start the year off on the right foot.”

The Babylonians would “reportedly vow to pay off debts and return borrowed from equipment.”

In 27 BC, the same tradition carried over in Rome—still celebrated in March. It wasn’t until about 300 BC when Julius Caesar decided to collaborate with astronomers and mathematicians to introduce a more accurate calendar, known as the Julian calendar.

It had 304 days and began with the month of Januarius.

History.com continued, “Caesar instituted January 1st as the first day of the year, partly to honor the month’s namesake: Janus, the Roman god whose two faces allowed him to look back into the past and forward into the future.”

Centuries later, while resolutions have likely changed dramatically, their purpose remains greatly the same. Students of LRHS hope to start the year off right.

Megan Buriak, a student at LRHS, has a personal New Year’s Resolution that she will strive for.

She said her goal is “to be happy, because being happier is healthier than being sad. I can also spread my happiness to other people to make them feel happier.”

Kym Webb said, “I want to learn a new language, so that way when I go back to Paris, I can speak to people there.”

Matt Leffel has a scholarly resolution: “I want to do more homework.”

Many staff members of LRHS are hoping to achieve goals in the New Year as well.

Jason Aldrich, science teacher at LRHS, claims he “would like to read more, because reading makes you smarter; it stimulates thinking.”

Teresa Laher, principal of LRHS, said, “My New Year’s resolution is to listen to less Christmas music and eat more broccoli because I am tuckered out on Christmas music and broccoli is good for my health.”

2015 promises to be a successful year for academics, athletics and personal growth when students return from their winter break on Monday, Jan. 5.