Am I the only one that thinks celebrating the New Year on Jan. 1 is a complete crock? Other than the annual rituals of buying a new calendar and getting drunk one night, there is really NOTHING to make Jan. 1 feel like the start of anything new.
The sham of this supposedly New Year is evident when we are children, with the new school year acting as the real signpost of change, progress, and the need for new clothes. We might shake that association in our post-post-secondary years if the breeze of Fall didn't also carry a completely new television season. Nothing signals the passage of time like a new season of laughs with America's funnyman, Jim Belushi.
How far have we strayed from our pagan roots when we celebrate the New Year in the middle of a season, and winter no less? The first day of Spring would seem the obvious choice, but that's a little too precious for me. What about the first day of Spring Training? Or maybe Opening Day - and the real Opening Day, not the bullshit game they play in Japan or wherever.
New Year's Day doesn't even come at the beginning of any sporting season. Consider that most Americans actually spend the first day of the year watching the last football games from the previous year. Does that sound like starting anew?
The meaningless timing of this celebration is also the reason so many resolutions are never achieved. It's like making a to-do list for the week on Wednesday.
But despite all this evidence, we still go through this ridiculous pageant in the middle of every winter. I'm guilty myself. When I'm forced to converse with coworkers or other people I don't really want to talk to, I'll wish them a Happy New Year like the coming weeks hold something other than a heaping helping of nothing new.
It's time to end this charade. Pick a day with some meaning - first day of Spring, Opening Day, Elvis' birthday - it doesn't matter. Make that your New Year. And when you're at the water cooler on Jan. 3 and some tool from accounts receivable wishes you a happy new year, tell them to go f*** themselves.
2 comments:
Damn skippy. The holidays are too long to begin with. If we're going to do it this time of year, let's do it on December 26th, and get this whole thing over with.
And wasn't the new year started by Hallmark?
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