Back in the 1970s, you could go out for a New Year’s party at a fancy hotel that included a four-hour open bar, a five-course gourmet dinner, live band with dancing, midnight champagne toast, and a continental breakfast at 2 a.m. for about 75 bucks a person.

The going-out party may be a thing of the past, but a tradition that’s centuries old that’s still going strong is the New Year’s resolution. The customary pledges we all have tried are joining a gym, losing weight and being nicer to our families. Oh, let’s add a popular one from the lonely hearts club - falling in love!

Two other rituals are meant to bring good luck. Open the back door at the stroke of midnight to let the old year out and open the front door to let the new year in. Another is to burn a candle to the socket and you’ll always have money in your pocket.

Twitter reported some of the strangest New Year’s resolutions ever made on their social media site. Get lost without a GPS. Rule the world. Stop procrastinating, but not today and always leave one potato chip in the bag.

The site AccuQuote lists more bizarre resolutions. Get a passport without any desire to travel. Wave to motorists at four-way stop intersections. Collect airsick bags from major airlines. Find someone to kiss besides your dog. Knit a sweater for a freezing tree.

History has its own record of weird resolutions. Writer Jonathan Swift resolved to dislike all children. Cambridge mathematician Godfrey Hardy pledged to be the first president of the USSR, Great Britain and Germany and he vowed to murder Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

Eventual Nobel Prize winner for literature J.M. Coetzee began his writing career by resolving one New Year’s Eve to lock himself in a basement wearing nothing more than boots and a coat and not come out until he had written 1,000 words, or about what amounts to be the approximate length of this column.

When famous nihilistic writer (one who profoundly believes in nothing), Samuel Becket was asked of his resolution, his typed a response that read like this - resolutions: zero, hopes: zero.

How about an even weirder resolution? A man in England resolved to surf on an ironing board from the top of a mountain to the bottom.

Indulge me the privilege of making a few resolutions. Shut off all cellphones when sitting down for dinner. Get some outside fresh air no matter how cold it gets. Read more books or read one book. Volunteer time to help out a worthy cause. When you speak to anyone, look comfortably in their eyes.

Since snow days don’t happen anymore for kids due to virtual learning, when it does accumulate, school districts should suspend learning for the day. Let kids go outside to play or lie around in their pajamas all day. Well, I know, that’s probably what they’re all doing anyway.

When the pandemic finally is over, let’s resolve to have parades all over America with COVID doctors and nurses waving to everyone from their vehicles. Let’s have a National Handshake Day, too. Grab a hand with someone. It will feel like you’ve never done it before.

Besides restaurants, let’s reopen concert halls and movie theaters. We all need to get out of our houses and enjoy live entertainment and big-screen movies again.

We don’t need to dwell on the tragedies of 2020. We can only look forward to 2021.

Turkish playwright Mehmet Murat Ildan wrote, “A person who gets lost in a dark forest waits with great hopes that the sun comes and saves him! And a person who gets lost in the gloomy days of a dark year also waits with great hopes that the New Year comes and saves him!”

The word for 2021 is “save.” Save us from the virus. Save the small-business owners. Save the kids sports seasons. Save us all from the growing anger in our city streets. We can’t sit back and pray it’s just going to happen. We all have to help save everything.

Another problem with resolutions is they require a self-discipline to make something perfect. English author Neil Gaiman feels otherwise.

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something.

“So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make new mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life. Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, do it …”

Meditation teacher Sah D’Simone offers this uplifting message about the new year, and we certainly need some inspiration for 2021.

“May light always surround you;

Hope kindle and rebound you.

May your hurts turn to healing;

Your heart embrace feeling.

May wounds become wisdom;

Every kindness a prism.

May laughter infect you;

Your passion resurrect you.

May goodness inspire

Your deepest desires.

Through all that you reach for,

May your arms never tire.”

Happy New Year, everyone, and thanks for reading!

Rich Strack can be reached at richiesadie11@gmail.com.