I make resolutions every year, even when I know I probably won't keep most of them. I agree, it's about hope, hope that the next year will be better than the last, and hope that things will not always be like this. If you can't have hope, what can you have?

Funny, though, because New Year falls in our summer, so I'm not sure if we're better or worse at keeping to them than you in the Northern Hemisphere!