Clicking Off the Next Year

What's in a number? Why should it matter that a new year is about to click into place on the calendar? Physically, nothing much will be different about January 1, 2008 than it was on December 31, 2007. The rising and setting of both sun and tide will work the same, and the air quality will not be measurably clearer or duller on either side of the man-made dividing line between years on the calendar.

Basically, what change there is from 2007 to 2008 is what we make it out to be, which is to say how we perceive the world, ourselves, our prospects. That will also affect what we do with the world around us according to what we perceive. Aside from the occasional reflexive shying away from things with the number 13, I have never been much on numerology. So it is my opinion that what the end of one number sequence and the start of the next brings is hope. The start of 2008 will bring hope to the minds of many -- that this is when one's life can become better, easier, wealthier, healthier, fill-in-your-desired-outcome-in-the-blank-er.

While I may throw cold water on numerology (and new year's resolutions, by the way), I do not disregard the value of new beginnings, fresh starts, the ritual hitting of the reset button. Sometimes the existence of the ritual is just the extra push we may need to shed inertia and undertake new effort.

So Happy New Year, everyone. Let's look forward, even if it's just for the hell of it, because it sure beats standing still.