HAPPY NEW YEAR????

Already the words are repeated to each other: “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.” (I am writing this in mid-December.) Happy New Year! What does man mean? What do we really mean when we say it? Are we thinking of what we speak? Or do we simply adopt a traditional expression—because everyone else uses it? What is the expression? Is it a wish? Do we wish really that everyone to whom we speak does have a happy new year? And what sort of a happy new year do we wish each to have? Do we wish that...