Mayhem in Making Merry

I've never quite understood why people behave like maniacs on New Year's Eve and those first moments of the new year. What does using all kinds of explosives -- some of them dangerous --  and even firing guns and other weapons into the air has to do with anything? I can understand that one feels joyful at having survived disease, old age, crime or accidents for another year, but, should one behave like a lunatic because of it?

Of course there's the alcohol factor. Most people who engage in these antics are inebriated, intoxicated or plain drunk. But, still, there is a particular kind of insanity that manifests itself at this time of the year, when people turn into mindless thrill-seekers who go berserk for no good reason, causing death and destruction with the excuse of making merry.

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