In the Days of Auld Lang Syne...

I remember being a little boy at Christmas time, and waking up in the middle of the night and going downstairs to watch TV. I must’ve been about 7 or so, but I remember turning on the old tube style TV set, and watching the end of an old black and white movie. It was the ending, and there were a bunch of people gathered together around a Christmas Tree singing “Auld Lang Syne” and then the movie ended.

It took me decades to finally put that memory with the movie that it turned out to be, “It’s a Wonderful Life”, but I always remembered the song of Auld Lang Syne. It’s a song that you always sing, but you never know why you sing it, and what it means.

Well, after reading up on it and its author, Robbie Burns, I understand what it now means. -It is the lamentation of days gone by, and of old acquaintances that belong with that time. Should these people be brought to mind, or left simply to fade, in the days that are in the past, or as the poem says, in the days of Auld Lang Syne.

That’s a really dangerous question…

I’ll get back to it…

Today is the anniversary of the death of one of my favourite singer/songwriters, Dan Fogelberg. He passed away this day in 2007 of prostate cancer. You might know some of his work like, “Longer”, “Run for the Roses”, “Leader of the Band”, and a very popular song of his that they play at Christmas, “Same Auld Lang Syne”

Same Auld Lang Syne starts out with a co-incidental meeting of his ex-lover on Christmas Eve, and how they spend the night talking and reminiscing about days gone by. They part ways at the end of the night in a plutonic manner, and it makes him reflect of another Auld Lang Syne.

I love this song, and I listen to it every time it comes on the radio, and it makes me ask the question, “should old acquaintances be forgotten?”

Obviously, this is a very unpopular topic with your current partner and in your present life, but you can’t tell me that we don’t think of these things, and even yearn for those days of youth gone by.

They are usually simpler times that we are remembering, and times where we had very little responsibilities compared to our life now, but we somehow always go back to that place, don’t we?

(It’s ok, you can admit it, you’re not going to go to hell for admitting this.) -There are some nice graphics if you click the link...

We ALL do it, and it’s totally normal. In fact, if it wouldn’t be so threatening and insulting to your present partner, you would do it a lot more, wouldn’t you?

Of course you would; that’s why we all sing Auld Lang Syne at New Year’s Eve every year saying goodbye to the year that was, and ushering in a new thought for the incoming year.

We all know that it’s a dangerous thought, and it’s usually a very private (and drunken) thought at that. But I notice that people always hide the fact that they have their own “Same Auld Lang Syne”, so I wonder how many people at New Year’s Eve are thinking about that somebody far, far away at that moment ,as opposed to the person that they are there with?

I think the answer would surprise you…

I think the people these days in our era of a 50% divorce rate would surprise you with that number. In fact, I think it would be much higher than you think it might be. Now, don’t get me wrong… I still believe in love, but I think that deep down, people wouldn’t surprise me as much as they might’ve when I was younger and more naïve.

I think that every human is desperately searching for their soul mate and given the fact that we all have grown up with the idea of Prince Charming and the Princess as a perfect partner, we won’t trade anything in lieu of it. And when Prince Charming ends up with a beer belly and not as romantic as he once was, and the beautiful princess isn’t as beautiful anymore after having a couple of kids, we think of something that is fond in our minds and that takes us back to our glory years of Auld Lang Syne…

Presto.

We humans are so transparent!

Ah, the allure of something on the other side of the fence.-It will always be timeless…

So when you are bringing in the New Year, Pause…

There is probably somebody thinking of you, and the days of Auld Lang Syne…