At the beginning of a new year it is customary for us to greet each other with "Happy New Year!" Do we mean "day" rather than "year"? We give the greeting on New Year's Day, but on this seventh day of the new year, are we still saying it? Are we wishing friends to be happy for only a day or for a whole year? How can one be happy for a whole year when the forecast for the new year may predict unhappy times? Can you be happy if in the coming year you may have less to eat, if you must make old clothes do for another year, if a vacation is out of the question, and if you must worry about the bills coming due?

Regardless of conditions, we do want to be happy. Is there anyone here who does not want to be happy in the coming year? A teacher of a young adult class asked the students to write thei…