HAPPY NEW YEAR?

HAPPY NEW YEAR?
7:23 am
01. Jan. 2020

 I slowly wake, stumble out of my New Year’s Eve slumber, ostensibly to greet a new year. But, honestly, what is truly new here? Other than a new page of the calendar, what is different? Am I different? Is the world a different place? Are you different? Other than the fact that this planet has once again passed a set point (a rather arbitrary, man-made point) in its orbit around its sun, nothing I can see is different. The number assigned to this new year means little, this particular planet has been running laps around this particular star for many many more than 2020 years. So why should I celebrate our passing this point in space? 

 I look in the mirror and see the same me. Despite the promise of a fresh start in this brand-new year, It’s still the same gray-haired, wrinkled, smartass I remember from yesterday looking back from the bathroom mirror. No different than I was twenty-four hours earlier in the waning hours of 2019. No different than the reflection I expect to see tomorrow as I rise. I am the same me, you are the same you, we’ve all just aged another predictable twenty-four hours. No real noticeable difference, except for the calendar on the wall. (Yes, I know. Nobody uses wall calendars anymore, I was speaking metaphorically.) 

 Do we truly begin the new year with a clean slate? Is our past year relegated to history? No, and only sort of. Clean slate? Nope. This is just another tomorrow, just like the day before, and just like the day after. We build upon our past, we learn from our failures and successes, but we cannot just start anew every January first, every year, with no recollection or foundation from the previous year(s). The turning of a page in the calendar doesn’t magically wipe away all we’ve done the last twelve months. It is not a new start, it is but merely a continuation. Our continued existence is all a product of our past.

 So, what is my point, you may be wondering. (Honestly, I wonder as well!) Instead of waiting for some mythical “new year” to make a clean start (complete with soon-to-be squashed resolutions), why don’t we treat each morning as a beginning? Yes, I stated earlier that each day is just a continuation from the previous ones (22,271 previous days for me, as I write this.) But why not treat every morning as we do the morning of Jan 1? Promise ourselves to improve. To do better. To make something of the new day. 
Happy New Day!!!
Cheers,
Mick

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