Well, 2014 has receded into the past and 2015 has been born. 

I think it’s safe to say that we can expect more of the same and probably a lot worse. We can count on President Obama to say and do stupid things and then claim that he ever said or did any such things. We can count on liberals calling conservatives racists and rapists while lecturing us about civility and tolerance they do not possess. We can also count on more evil in the world whether it’s done by countries like Iran or terrorist organizations like ISIS as well as by a litany of tyrants great and small. 

Yet I am grateful to inhale and exhale. I am especially grateful to the people at Mount Sinai Hospital who saved my Dad’s life last October. Had that not occurred, I doubt I would be in much of a mood to celebrate anything. Not everyone gets a second chance. So Dad is making the most of it.

The world always has and always will be a miserable place. It’s all the more reason to find joy and merriment whenever and wherever possible. I will begin 2015 like I have begun nearly every year for the past decade – go to the Brattle Theater in Harvard Square and watch eight hours worth of Marx Brothers movies. Groucho reminds me of President Obama when Rufus T. Firefly declares as he is about to become President of Freedonia, “If you think this country’s bad off now, just wait ’til I get through with it.”

We need all the laughter we can get because there so many things that just aren’t funny.

And on that spirited note of optimism, I wish all of you the best in 2015.