Happy New Year!
I hope to eat black-eyed peas and cornbread today. I know it is tradition, but I eat heaping helpings of both because they taste good and I like them. I probably will follow them with a chocolate chip cookie, or two, or 10.
Can you believe we are already starting a new year?
My Grandma always used to say “days go slow, but time goes fast.” I didn’t know what she meant back then. It takes a little maturity and the wisdom of years to understand, but now I know exactly what she was talking about.
As you read this, a new year is in its infancy, 2025. It will be a clean slate. A new canvas. A fresh start.
I always get a little wistful and nostalgic at this time of year. What once was can never be again.
The old year, 2024, held a little bit of everything. You know what? The new year, 2025, probably will, too.
At the end of the old year and the beginning of the new one, it is always good to thank God for past blessings, even as we seek His favor and Providence for the new year.
This past week marked
Jason Deal News Editor jdeal@ blacksheartimes.news my 23rd anniversary at The Times and my 28th overall in the journalism profession.
For as long as I can remember, I try to write a column imagining headlines I would like to read in the new year.
I am optimistic things will be better tomorrow than they are today. Lord willing, as we do this exercise 12 months from now, I hope we can say that in 2025 we had a good and blessed year.
So, here are a few headlines I’d like to see in this brand new year:
• America enters a kinder, gentler era: I confess I have very little hope this headline will come to pass. I am repulsed that our politics have degenerated into a vulgar, manure-filled cesspool. I keep holding out hope we will return to the “kinder, gentler America”. I am not and have never been a fan of the incoming president. I know he is absolutely and universally adored locally, even by Christians. I want him to succeed, but I want it known I do not like him or his ungracious, unkind manner. I keep holding out hope that soon we will have a new way forward. That leads me to the second headline.
• New, moderate, centrist American Party emerges: The last few elections I have wanted to just barf in the nearest trash can after I cast my ballot. For once, I want to vote for someone I like and who I believe is a decent person. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia hit on it during an recent interview and I agree wholeheartedly. He called for a moderate, common sense “American” Party that would be home to those who are tired of the broken politics as usual.
• Hurricane season cancelled due to lack of storms: I know this won’t happen either, because hurricane season will roll around again in June. But, I hope and pray the coming hurricane season is nothing like the one we just went through. I can close my eyes and think back and still hear the screaming of the wind on the September night Hurricane Helene came calling in 2024. I hope I never hear the wind howling like that again.
• Bears, Dawgs, Falcons and Braves have championship years: Wouldn’t it be great to have a quartet of champions? That first one takes a lot for me to say as a fan and proud alumni of the Bears’s arch-rival high school, Appling County. I think all the wearers of red and black can agree we would love to see the Dawgs return as National Champions! We need to get the Falcons going once again. This year has been uneven. The Braves had a good year, only to come up short. Here’s hoping for great seasons in 2025.
• 2025 is the best year ever.
I hope we can look back at this time next year and say 2025 is the best year ever for you and me and for all those we love.
Happy New Year!
