"New Year's Day"

“I will begin again . . .”

As we celebrate the start of a new year, and we witness some momentous events around the world that may significantly shape the future, one of the most notable being the ongoing dissident uprising in Iran, perhaps the accompanying video of U2 performing “New Year’s Day” is a befitting way to begin 2010.

The song’s lyrics combine a message of love and possibility in contrast with feelings of frustration and disillusion. Included on the 1983 album, War, this song’s composition was partially inspired by the Polish Solidarity movement—initiated in the shipyards of Gdansk during 1980 and headed by a relatively unknown worker named Lech Walesa, who had organized resistance throughout the 1970s and been fired from his job.

Formed in opposition to Communist control of the country and the influence of the Soviet Union, which responded by instituting martial law and engaging in an era of repression, the Solidarity movement saw its profile and impact grow internationally during the early 1980s, and Walesa was imprisoned. However, he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and after a decade of contention and conflict, the dissenters ultimately achieved victory with formation of a coalition government in which Lech Walesa was elected as Poland’s president in the end of 1990.

Best wishes to all in 2010.
May love and possibility of better times always prevail.

Happy New Year!