We Begin Again
Ladies and gentlemen, can I please take a moment to look into the sky, throw my head back into a yell, and let loose with one astounding “Thank God!”? After what seemed to be an almost impossibly long year, 2009 is finally on its way out. Can I get an amen?!
Don’t get me wrong, 2009 wasn’t all bad. We swore in our new president. (And while he’s had a rough year in his new job, I still think he’s doing alright.) I lived through a musical. I went to Chicago, Illinois; Spokane, Washington; Boston, Massachusetts; and East Haven, Connecticut. A substantial amount of travel for those of us with small pocket books. Speaking of pocket books, I bought my first Coach bag. And, one of my favorite things of the past year, I met my guy. (Insert contented sigh and cartoon hearts here.)
But whether I choose to remember this year as the year I met the man I love or as the year of Fun with Old Testament Punishment, I’m just glad 2009 is over. I think that, while our calendar is a bit wonky in my mind (we really couldn’t have worked out that whole differently numbered months, leap year issue?), I do think that the fellow with the oversized harem and undersized toga who set up the official length of the year did a good job. Perhaps as he was dictating to his memo-taking underwife he didn’t realize that after 364 days of the same year, you start to get antsy. You need a change. Or perhaps as a man with a slew of wives and concubines, he knew the advantage of variety.
Even in a year you enjoy, by the end of it you’re usually a little wiped out. You want to take a minute, catch your breath, and make grand gestures about life changes and new motivation. What I love about New Year’s resolutions is that sometimes the act of making the resolution is enough. Sure, we’ve all started dieting on Janurary 2nd and we’ve all declared we’d be cutting back on television or junk food starting right after the New Year’s marathon of whatever our favorite guilty pleasure TV show is. And more often than not, by January 7th, we’re back in our old habits. What’s fantastic about this, however, is that for a week, we feel in total control of our lives. We are making declarations with all the power and conviction of our calendar-making friend. Our proclamations may not change the world or alter the course of history, but we feel powerful. The start of a new year lets us feel like we have control again. Even at the end of the best years, you need that worldwide encouragement to reclaim your own destiny.
Every country celebrates the start of the new year. Billions of people around the world, over the course of several hours, share the same wishes. How often can you say with certainty that a sheep herder in New Zealand and a cocktail waitress in New York City have the same dream at the same time? Once a year when they both wish for a better year with smarter choices and kinder people and open feelings and cheaper booze.
So remember tonight that everyone around you is wishing you success in your resolutions. And they are cheering you on just as they are cheering for themselves and swearing that this year they really mean it.
Let’s shake the dust of 2009 of our heels, leap into 2010, and try to be better than we were last year.
My resolution to watch less TV went out with the SVU marathon on USA on New Year’s Day. Whoops.
January 2nd, 2010 at 7:23 pmHey, I clarified that resolutions of that nature start post-marathon. You’re still good.
January 3rd, 2010 at 5:26 pmCan I have the harem part for the week too? I’ve got the empowerment part down… but I’d really like a nice male harem for a week to go with it…
January 8th, 2010 at 2:45 pm