News from the Noteworthy by LEAF

Kindness: Considering A New Auld Lang Syne

If you were anywhere near a television or a social gathering on New Year’s Eve, you very likely heard “Auld Lang Syne.” Maybe you even sang along. Although we borrowed it from the Scots, is has become our traditional response to ringing in the new year. It is both a song of remembrance and of looking forward, taken from a folk song and poem of the 1700s. It is actually one of the oldest historical songs that is still sung by the general population.

Though there is no direct English translation of the phrase, “auld lang syne,” it roughly translates to “times long past” or “days gone by.” But, as we read forward in the poem, the phrase that really caught my attention this year was this: “We’ll take a cup of kindness, yet, for auld lang syne. And surely ye shall raise your glass and surely I’ll raise mine.”