Babies, puppies & New Year’s Day…

Every Wednesday afternoon I have a 2-hour English conversation class at a local company and in order to get there I can walk down a street that has a pet store, usually with a variety of puppies just inside the window and more inside the store. Sometimes just standing there for a few minutes watching those balls of fur puts a smile on my face. So what does that have to do with babies and New Year’s Day?

As I walked away from the store one day I started wondering why people like puppies and came up with one and surely not the only answer – at the very least this applies to me. They are new, innocent and unspoilt among other things. Obviously though I’d say that the “cute factor” is the main reason. So once again what about babies and New Year’s Day? Well I think that apart from the obvious and inherent cuteness of babies there is this idea of newness coming into play when we get excited about babies or 1 January. I think most people would agree that the world we live in is seriously troubled at the best of times, even if Hollywood tries to sell us something different. So, when I see a baby, a puppy or arrive on 1 January there is a sense that regardless of everything going on in the world here is something that is new and unspoilt. There is potential for all kinds of great things that flies in the face of the challenges that life can throw at us. I would even go beyond that and say that especially a baby or a New Year can cause us to dream, to hope and for some to pray for something more, something better…