New Year’s resolutions

     According to History, ancient Babylonians made the first New Year’s resolutions about 4,000 years ago. When they held their religious festival, Akitu, they “made promises to the gods to pay their debts and return any objects they had borrowed.” These promises are the equivalent of our present-day New Year’s resolutions.

     “I feel some people just treat them [New Year’s resolutions] as a trend and never actually follow through with the [resolution],” junior Abigail Newton says. She made a resolution to “become closer with [her] dad and let him back in [her] life.”

     Sophomore Mia Coleman has made a resolution to eat better and work out more. “I think [New Year’s resolutions] are good, but if you really want to change something, you shouldn’t wait [for the new year].”

     Junior Bella Southard wants to get more sleep and focus more on her mental health. “They’re goals you could make any time, but some tend to be unrealistic and people fall out on them.”

     While the concept of resolutions is not new, different individuals have varying ideas about them.  Some like junior Ian Calhoun believe that “people need to stop aiming too high; we all know we aren’t actually gonna do them.”

     Spanish teacher Senora Buttitta does not make New Year’s resolutions. “I’ve broken so many. It is too much pressure. I feel like resolutions should be a daily thing, not: ‘oh, it’s a new year, let’s start fresh,’” she says. “In a perfect world I would make a resolution and I’d keep it, but when it is February 1 and I’ve already broken it, it just depresses me. It is a good thing if people keep it, but not for me”.

     Social studies teacher Mr. Chuck Selfe does not make New Year’s resolutions either. “If there were something that I think I needed to change or do differently, I probably wouldn’t wait for a special day to do that,” he explains. The last time Selfe made a New Year’s resolution was about ten years ago. “I don’t think I’ve ever made one that was ‘I’m going to be nicer to people’ or ‘I’m going to be a better teacher,’ because if there was something glaringly wrong with something that I’m doing, I would’ve already tried to fix it.”

     Math teacher Mrs. Jennifer Beigel does not remember the last time she made a New Year’s resolution. “I have nothing against it,” she says. “You see a lot of people make goals and they stick to them, other people make goals and they don’t. I feel like I make my little goals when I need to make them. I don’t find New Year’s to be a particular time to make a goal.”