So, comes another year....
In just a few hours, we usher in the next number in a sequence, one we optimistically call a New Year. We humans have this abiding need to keep score, to maintain a count, new start fresh, or at least to fool ourselves into thinking we start fresh. But...
What exactly will be new about the number 2009? Will days be longer or shorter, will months be given different names, will night not follow day, will the people who inhabit those hours be changed for either better or worse, or will it not all be simply more of the same that has gone before? Will we discover new problems or will we not just continue failing to solve the same old ones? Will we suddenly discover that coveting our neighbor's property, or disdaining their choices in living, or flaunting our own religious beliefs are not worth the costs of war? Will we be willing to want the same thing for others that we want for ourselves and then be willing to 'put our money where our mouths are?' It's highly doubtful.
Why then do we attempt to close the doors on the old year with our lists of the good, the bad, and the ugly; of our accomplishments and our disasters, or our dismal failures and our brief flashes of brilliance? Won't we again inscribe a new list of 'resolutions' that we pledge to keep then dismiss as they are sloughed to the wayside by the vagaries of everyday existence and the stress we ourselves put on our lives and those around us. Will we actually notice when those resolutions crumble this time?
How many of us actually take a moment to ask ourselves exactly what it is we think we're doing? How many of us question the way we count time? Or question the whys of time counting? How many of us are willing to measure ourselves by the strict parameters with which we measure our years and then question what has been done with those 365 days? Our lives are so short, yet so, apparently is our vision and our reach. We seem more comfortable with subtle limits we impose on our thinking or allow others to impose upon us...limits we rarely question because we so rarely question that mountainous thing called 'tradition.' Few of us would willing repeat today and mistake or misjudgement we made yesterday, but we rarely question tradition, no matter who or why it was originally established, if we even know.
So, we'll raise a glass of something sparking or bubbling, kiss a friend or foe at midnight as tradition demands, call out "Happy New Year" as real time continues unchanged, and hope some unseen cosmic force alters our lives for the nebulous better, ignoring the simple reality that our better depends upon our own devices and desires and willingness to make an effort.
Hope, like genius, is one of those cloudy concepts that is hard to explain. But hope is also like genius in another way, once defined by Albert Einstein as 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. We would do well to remember that small saying as we turn our eyes to another revolution in the yearly cycle...that to achieve something new, wonderful and hopeful requires our attention to detail and our willingness to work long, hard and smart. Otherwise, in the brief span of 365 days, we'll again simply see the coming of another year much like the one just passed.
May you each achieve greater vision, diligence, and willingness to embark on the new as comes another year.
What exactly will be new about the number 2009? Will days be longer or shorter, will months be given different names, will night not follow day, will the people who inhabit those hours be changed for either better or worse, or will it not all be simply more of the same that has gone before? Will we discover new problems or will we not just continue failing to solve the same old ones? Will we suddenly discover that coveting our neighbor's property, or disdaining their choices in living, or flaunting our own religious beliefs are not worth the costs of war? Will we be willing to want the same thing for others that we want for ourselves and then be willing to 'put our money where our mouths are?' It's highly doubtful.
Why then do we attempt to close the doors on the old year with our lists of the good, the bad, and the ugly; of our accomplishments and our disasters, or our dismal failures and our brief flashes of brilliance? Won't we again inscribe a new list of 'resolutions' that we pledge to keep then dismiss as they are sloughed to the wayside by the vagaries of everyday existence and the stress we ourselves put on our lives and those around us. Will we actually notice when those resolutions crumble this time?
How many of us actually take a moment to ask ourselves exactly what it is we think we're doing? How many of us question the way we count time? Or question the whys of time counting? How many of us are willing to measure ourselves by the strict parameters with which we measure our years and then question what has been done with those 365 days? Our lives are so short, yet so, apparently is our vision and our reach. We seem more comfortable with subtle limits we impose on our thinking or allow others to impose upon us...limits we rarely question because we so rarely question that mountainous thing called 'tradition.' Few of us would willing repeat today and mistake or misjudgement we made yesterday, but we rarely question tradition, no matter who or why it was originally established, if we even know.
So, we'll raise a glass of something sparking or bubbling, kiss a friend or foe at midnight as tradition demands, call out "Happy New Year" as real time continues unchanged, and hope some unseen cosmic force alters our lives for the nebulous better, ignoring the simple reality that our better depends upon our own devices and desires and willingness to make an effort.
Hope, like genius, is one of those cloudy concepts that is hard to explain. But hope is also like genius in another way, once defined by Albert Einstein as 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. We would do well to remember that small saying as we turn our eyes to another revolution in the yearly cycle...that to achieve something new, wonderful and hopeful requires our attention to detail and our willingness to work long, hard and smart. Otherwise, in the brief span of 365 days, we'll again simply see the coming of another year much like the one just passed.
May you each achieve greater vision, diligence, and willingness to embark on the new as comes another year.
posted by kaz at 8:05 PM
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