Another New Year is Coming

Tattered and bleeding the old year limps towards its inevitable doom.  As the last few gasping breaths rattle from the old year's throat and I start feeling about in my pockets for change for the ferryman the new year is getting ready.  It's trainers are rubbing down their charging, lacing up its gloves and whispering last minute words of advice and encouragement into its ear.
"You've got this kid," they rasp.  "You're young, you're hungry, you've got the skills.  When you're done no one will even remember 2014."

It's got to be admitted that 2014 was a rather forgettable year.  That is it was a year full of things we'd rather forget.  Airliners showed a remarkable inability to stay in the sky, Russia showed a remarkable inability to stay within its borders and the United States and its allies showed a remarkable inability to realise that you don't win wars with airpower alone.  On the positive side of things I wasn't personally involved in any of the above so I suppose from my perspective things could have been worse.

We celebrate the new year as a time of renewal.  At least I assume that's why we do it.  I can't think of any other reason to pick a particular date and say, "right, this is the reset button.  Now we start again.  We can put all of our worries behind us."  To my way of thinking putting your worries behind you simply means that you can't keep an eye on them any more which isn't likely to be particularly helpful in the long run.

The other thing that I don't quite understand is the idea of the new year as a form of renewal.  Granted, it is simply an arbitrary point that we can measure our calendar from but the whole point of measuring time is to help us work out how much of it we have left.  Essentially a new year is an age marker.  With each new year we are unconsciously acknowledging that everything; you, me, western civilisation and the universe in general is officially a little closer to death.  Each new year brings us closer the point when we won't have any left at all.  And for some reason this prompts us to set off fireworks.  Some might say it is a magnificent denial of mortality but I think it's more likely to be that people do not think particularly clearly.

But for all that there is no point raging against the dying of the light.  The light will die anyway and ultimately there will be no one left to care.  So why not have a party?  It isn't as though you're going to be able to do it after you're dead.  We could wait for a genuine reason to have a party rather than simply labelling a date as significant for no particular reason but if we wait for a genuine reason that might never come either.  So on balance I think I'm in favour of new years celebrations.  There are fireworks and people running around and generally having a good time.  Either that or its an airstrike.  With the exception of the good time part it would be a little difficult to tell the difference.

So, on that basis I wish everybody a happy new year.  Now, I'm going to bed.