At a New Year’s Eve concert by Amanda Palmer (of the Dresden Dolls) with the Boston Pops at Boston’s Symphony Hall, there was a special guest.  That man was none other than Neil Gaiman, and a few minutes before midnight, he came out onto the stage to give the crowd a benediction for the beginning of 2010.  I’ll crib Make’s transcription, but the video itself is wonderful.

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.

…I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you’ll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you’ll make something that didn’t exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind.

It’s a staggering thing of beauty that just kind of brings tears the the eyes, doesn’t it?  My eyes, at least; must be the starving writer inside me, or maybe just the sap.  We should all have such a good 2010.

Tags: New Year’s Benediction, Neil Gaiman, quotes, authors, Amanda Palmer, Boston Pops, Symphony Hall, Boston, Massachusetts, videos

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