HAPPY NEW YEAR..LET'S SANG IT!!!

Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot …

Maybe...Maybe Not....

Because I am a song writer (in my illusions of grandeur and a few times by trade) I have always been curious about the song “Auld Lang Syne”. Who wrote it..where did it come from..why do we all sing it every New Year’s and don’t have a clue what we are saying? So... I did a little research that makes me happy and sad.

Sad because the worst thing that can happen to a song writer is for someone to steal your song…or at the very least, steal your lyrics. Music comes pretty natural to most of my family and friends ..those who play instruments can come up with all kinds of fancy licks on a guitar or piano but when it comes to lyrics..those are special..those are words you write straight from your heart and you expose your deepest feelings to the world to be trampled, criticized and condemned. It is not easy..but if you are a writer, you have no choice. You must write. It is as necessary as breathing.

So when I found out the guy who gets credit for a song used worldwide for so many events-- like people passing out drunk on New Year’s Eve-- probably plagiarized the whole thing..it made me sad. Seems old Robert Burns admitted that he took most of the words of the song from old James Watson and  several other ‘poets’ used the same words. I guess ‘copyright infringement’ is not reserved for the 21^st century. I know all this is true because I read it in Wikipedia and we all know Wikipedia would never lie and is completely dependable.  Nobody on the internet lies or makes stuff up or exaggerates anything. Right?  All we really know for sure is that “Auld Lang Syne” means something like ‘for old times’ sake’.The reason the song makes me happy is the next to last chorus that most of us do not sing:

 "We two have paddled in the stream, from morning sun till dine.
 But seas between us broad have roared since auld lang syne."

I don’t know about you folks….but that little chorus right there touched my heart. It speaks of friendship and family ties ..about being there for each other during the toughest times, side by side, through the good times and the bad. It means even if we might one day be separated by miles or even in death, or disagreements--nothing will ever change that love or that friendship. True love does not wane with time or space, it is eterenal. You don’t have to work at it. I love my precious family and friends who love me despite myself. I love that some are just as lazy about our friendship as I am. Some would say we take each other for granted because we don't talk every day or even every year. That is not true. We are so sure of each other’s love that we don’t have to work at it. It never hurts my feelings if they forget a birthday or if they don’t call me for six months. Our love and friendship goes way beyond that. We are so close we can relax and take advantage of each other without ever being worried that someone will get mad.. We all have enough to worry about. We give each other the freedom to not worry and not be perfect. And that is what makes our relationships..perfect!

The reason we can do that is because we TRUST each other. We have nothing to prove to each other. We know each other's weaknesses and strengths, we know at any time or moment if we called each other up ..and said come to me, I need you..no matter how many miles away ...we would be there, either physically or spiritually.. and that is all that matters to us.

There are no perfect families or friendships. We have all let each other down at some point in our lives. And those are the only times that should be "forgotten". That is when we should let the past stay in the past and go forward. Letting go and moving on. Two of the hardest things we will ever do. But one of my favorite stories (and I don’t remember the lesson often enough) is one I found in Reader's Digest years ago when I needed it most. I am too lazy to look up it up on Wikipedia-- but it was the story of the buzzard and the hummingbird and went something like this:

 The buzzard floats on the air currents around him, passively moving with the wind in search of something dead or dying. His whole life is based on looking for the past. He searches for something that was alive but is either dead or dying. His world revolves around the suffering of others and their passing. He only sees the negative things of life and yet he thrives.

The little hummingbird propels himself through the air on his own power and is in constant search for the cactus flower. He seeks out only the sweetest nectar of life in a wasteland. He thrives on beauty and the goodness of his world. He dwells in a positive state of mind. Both are birds yet both have been designed to do what they are meant to do.

Are you a buzzard or a hummingbird?

My wish is that we all bring out more of our ‘hummingbird’ and less of our 'buzzard' this year. And I am going to start by giving old Robert Burns a break on stealing the words of the famous song from old James Watson…James should have got off his butt and turned it into a song himself so stop whining Mr. Watson..you made it into Wikipedia..what else could you possibly want? 

May we all take a cup of kindness yet..for days of Auld Lang Syne…

Happy New Year to all the nuts like me!

~Squirrely Girl 2013