What do we celebrate this week? Is it the end of a year, or the start of a new one? Do we celebrate the fact that another year has passed with all the good and bad that it brought with it, or are we looking forward to another year which will hopefully be better than the one that has just ended?

For some, it is quite ironic that we celebrate the fact that we are a year older. Others see it as an achievement. Many want this year to end as quickly as possible because it was not a good one for them; others can look back with satisfaction because they have found a new job, a new love or simply had a good time.

Newspapers and television stations use these last few days of the year to carry features recounting what has taken place over the past 12 months with a view on what the world is to expect as from 1 January.

There will be predictions, most of which will not come true. Who could have predicted, last December, that the world would have gone into such a financial turmoil in the second half of this year? It is rather funny to think that many so-called experts were saying that the world economy would be picking up between September and November – and this was precisely the period of time that saw the world going through such a hard time, from which it is still to pick itself up.

And, just as much as the media provides us with the chance to review all that happened since January 2008 – it seems so long ago, doesn’t it? – we should all carry out our own self-examination and see what we did in the past year.

We have, so to speak, added another year of experience. We have had our good times, and our bad times too. What did we learn from this “experience”? Have we become better men and women? Did the mistakes we committed teach us to behave differently when a similar situation took place?

From the resolutions we made at the start of 2008, how many did we keep? Did we stop smoking? Did we cut down on drinking alcohol? Did we go on a diet and maintain it? Did we spend more time with our children and our family? Did we visit our parents more often? Did we manage to smile more often and treat others better? Did we do something for people in need? Did we give our best at the office or factory? Did we try to make amends with people we quarreled with? Did we work harder not to make fun of colleagues who do not have a strong personality?

Just like those predictions made by world experts which did not see the light of day or, worse, saw the complete opposite happen, it is probable that even we failed in our own attempts to be better people this year. It is probable that we threw our resolutions out of the window on the second day of January, and kept on doing exactly what we have been doing for years.

Will we be doing the same again this year? Will we make a list of things we need to change in ourselves and then simply ignore them when the festivities are over?

Perhaps it would be better to set ourselves a smaller target and work hard to achieve it, rather than have a full list of things to do and then not manage to cross off even one of them.

Or perhaps the best thing for us, if we can’t keep our word, would be to make a resolution not to make resolutions.