A New Year's Greeting

THE CURMUDGEON’S SON SITS IN THE SUNSHINE ON NEW YEAR'S DAY AND GRIPES ABOUT THE HUMAN CONDITION

ON THIS DAY of resolutions and good intentions to reinvent our lives, it’s interesting to ponder why this impulse tends to strike only once a year. It’s like opening the windows on the first balmy, breezy day in the spring and letting in something to lighten the stale air we've been breathing all winter. The Solstice is past. The days begin to lengthen, however imperceptibly. The urge to shake off the shackles of the past peeks out like the sun from behind a dark cloud. Freedom! Why are we so afraid of it? Why do others get so anxious and disapproving when we talk about it – or, God forbid, actually practice it? In every social environment I’ve ever occupied, it’s been the same: whether they’ll admit it or not, people don’t want other people to start acting too free. I think it’s why New Year’s Day is a day off for so many of us. It’s how society lets us get this “I’m free” nonsense out of our systems for a day, before we slip back into the warm bath of mediocrity and self-imposed bondage in which we’ll soak for the next 364 days – unless death or insanity grabs us first. That’s more than just a little gloomy, isn’t it? You’ll have to decide for yourself whether you find a kernel of truth in it. This New Year’s Day of 2008, my take on it is that freedom is for the very young, the very old and the very crazy. So have a crazy new year! I certainly intend give it my best shot. Or so I say today, and here highly resolve. But I suspect the warm bath will be waiting tomorrow. Clem.