The New Year

I suppose it’s fitting to again write something for the end of one year and the beginning of another. On the one hand, there’s nothing magical about January 1. Our year could just as easily start on October 10 or May 22. We have chosen (or rather someone has chosen for us, and we have not changed it) the stroke of midnight between December 31 and January 1 as the beginning of the New Year.
There is something to be said for the length of the year, however. It approximates the time it takes to travel around the sun on planet earth. And the length of our day is also something that probably should remain as it is as it approximates the time it takes the earth to make one rotation on its axis. But the notion that January 1 should be the start of the new year is an entirely man-made idea.
Not that there’s something bad about that. I suppose the year has to begin some time. I’m not sure it deserves all of the attention it gets, however. It seems to me it’s an excuse for us to spend money, stay up late, and over-indulge.
I’m not really a Grinch, although I am wearing my Oscar the Grouch shirt today. And I’ll gladly be part of the Plank gathering here later tonight. There will be food and drink, games and talk. And we’ll celebrate the New Year, clean up, say good-bye, and head for bed, wondering what this next year has in store for us.
If I can be serious for a moment, I’d like to say what you already know. We haven’t a clue what the new year holds for us, or if we’ll even be around for the entire year. We don’t know what funerals will take place, who will get married, who will have a child. We don’t know the state of the economy, nor do we know what various people in power in the world will do militarily or through terrorism.
What we do know is that there will be enough evil and mayhem in the world this coming year, that we would do well to live at peace with all men insofar as it lies within us; to offer a cup of cold water; to visit those who are sick and in prison; to give a coat, a meal, and a safe place to sleep. We would do well to offer a kind word, encourage a child, pick up someone else’s trash, slow down and drive more civilly, and hold a door or an elevator for someone. We would do well to remember the God who made us; to visit the teachings of Jesus and absorb and practice them. We would do very, very well to love our neighbor as ourselves.
We can’t fix everything; neither do we have to contribute to the mayhem. We can do our part to civilize our sphere of influence. And we can work to make the lives of others better even as we ponder our own frailty and mortality. Have a blessed 2012.