Excerpt from a Christmas email to a former student

I hope you have a nice break, read some good books, and get excited about the new year. I love January if only for the delusions that I have a second chance to do better. If there's one thing I really like about time, it's that it keeps going. There's always the future. If I had to live with my past, I'd kill myself for being lazy, unfocused, petty, slothful and cowardly. But with the promise of time, we are all dedicated, ambitious, noble and brave. God bless the new year, and may the devil take the past.