Ever since I was a kid, I didn’t like New Year’s Eve. Or New Year’s Day for that matter. As a follow-up to the holidays of Christmas and Hanukkah, it is nothing but a let-down holiday in my opinion. There isn’t too much to celebrate in the notion that another year is over and time marches on. Again, the better idea would have been to put New Year’s prior to Christmas and Hanukkah and then, we would at least have something to look forward to rather than the introspection that is demanded of New Year’s.
Specifically in mind is the media’s “People We Have Lost” mentality about New Year’s. There will be a list dragged out of all the people we have already grieved over to some degree. Like mugshots of “America’s Most Wanted” we will have to look over everyone who has died with some degree of fame attached to them. Do I wish to be reminded that Queen Elizabeth is dead, and we are now dealing with King Charles? Not really. Nor do I want to know that any other Hollywood star or starlet “left us too soon.”
You see, already that aspect of New Year’s Eve becomes creepier than Halloween. The other aspect of it, waiting out in the cold in Times Square for some big ball to drop, while again, the media puts it on television so people can watch the people waiting in the cold for a big ball to drop is sort of insulting. I feel for the folks who have nothing more to do than watch someone talk about this big ball in Times Square and then cut to some act playing music that sort of always is never that good. It is like organizing a soc-hop for a wake, in my opinion. You can’t really have it both ways and if you do, it is called poor taste.
Yes, New Year’s needs a big overhaul because it is in poor taste the way we celebrate it. The idea of resolutions needs to go. Nobody wins with resolutions. Goals are another thing and perhaps if we created a list of 5 New Year’s Goals, that would carry more solemn determination. It is what we do in our family, we set some family goals to achieve and when they are achieved, a line is drawn through on our list we keep inside the cupboard door. We then can look over all that was done that year with joy. Resolutions, like my wanting to lose ten pounds, are never successful in my book, because they are self-centered ideas that usually don’t involve the necessary peer pressure to make them reality. If I were to say, my goal is to join a gym, get into a core training class and in a year lose ten pounds, well now I have made a commitment that is a bit harder to untangle.
The partying aspect of New Year’s is also pretty misguided in my book. All the alcohol doesn’t make for good resolutions anyway. And all you have to do is go out to a club once in your life to be forever reminded of why people stay home to watch people in the cold waiting for a big ball to drop in Times Square. Clubbing is something for young people who are into overpriced and overcrowding. It is only second to taking a date out to a restaurant on Valentine’s Day. You do that once and you know it’s a dumb thing to do.
No, New Year’s Eve is a solemn occasion for me. I tend to think in terms of ritual when it comes to it. The idea of burning something always appeals to me, such as old letters, pictures or objects that I feel are part of a past worth parting with. I am all for a good bonfire that cleanses the past while cleaning the garage.
The idea of looking ahead is really what needs to be celebrated with New Year’s. If somehow goals could be set on a national level, imagine what that would do to galvanize a nation forward? We could celebrate our goals achieved as a people. We could vote on such goals and civically bring about some positive change. Monitor it through the year and report on the meeting of such goals? That would do our collective souls a much better turn than looking at dead people on television.
The truth is there’s nothing you can do about the past year. And there’s nothing you can do about a year yet to unfold. You are in that perfect state of nowhere with New Years. And perhaps that is what is the most aggravating aspect of it for those of us who want to always be doing something positive.
Which leads me to the best New Year’s ritual. What I call “Sleeping in the New Year.” And that is having a good night’s sleep and waking up to a clean slate for another year. Waking up refreshed and grabbing a cup of New Year’s coffee to look over your list of goals for the future. Counting your blessings from the past year and determining to add to them in the next. And knowing that it will take a year of doing just that to make the next truly a Happy New Year.