Newness!

When the government endeavors to create laws that put the power into the hands of the few, and diminish the power of the people, limiting their rights to progress, to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, it is the right of the people to complain.

I heard something akin to that from the television. Not exactly the normal place to look for reliable information, but I find PBS’s documentaries informative and interesting. That particular misquote came from Andrew Jackson, a particularly controversial president. Though Fwidapin might agree to the more negative view of him, there was enough good along with the bad to spark my curiosity. Why is it that one man can bring about such opposing views of himself as to be described as an “Atrocious Saint” or an “Urban Savage?” Most of the time I find oxymorons nothing more than a word game I play with myself to keep my mind engaged while I deal with dreadfully dull moments, but seeing it as an accurate description of an actual man’s character, I am led to ask why. Why would a man be described as both? I am not a historian, I do not claim any sort of previous knowledge or understanding, I merely claim interest. Can anyone answer why Andrew Jackson is still considered a great controversy?

But, that’s not really what this blog is about. Most people would probably say that Andrew Jackson is a terrible way to start a new year. That being said, perhaps I should apologize. I don’t think I will though, because, after all, it’s my blog, you sillies!

I’ve heard that the Mayans were wonderful astronomers. Can you imagine those stout little men, so often depicted as little more than fierce whiskey loving warriors as astronomers, running around in white lab coats? Although they probably didn’t wear the lab coats, their achievements are a wonder to us even today. I understand that they made a calendar so exact that it’s off only by a few minutes (or was it hours) even today, some fifteen hundred years later. Honestly, my calendar doesn’t even tell me what hour it is, so these guys must have been pretty intense. Can you imagine what sort of precision that must have took, to make something that changed ever so slightly every day, for thousands of years until the mystic date of April 6, 2012? Once again I saw a documentary about these people in which the calendar was depicted as a rather large clockwork type concoction, with lots of dials that moved. I imagine it was more like a sun chart, but never having seen the beastly day planner, I really couldn’t tell you.

But let’s go with the idea of the giant clockwork. In watches and clocks around the country, the small but pivotal movement of that great calendar is reflected, and such was the case as the world stood still (literally until midnight, then they were kissing like crazy) to watch the last few official seconds of 2007 tick by with the last one giving its most atlantean effort ‘till it was squished underneath a lighted ball. The world rejoiced, and all over the world little dials went like this: 7… 7… 8… 8… The world rejoiced because one miniscule number changed by one. Mathematically, this number is so close to insignificant it’s terrifying. In terms of historical or world events, the number one means so little that we laugh if we try and figure out the date of most anything (except the most recent occurrences) to be closer than within a few thousand, or even ten of thousands.

Why does the world rejoice over the change of one number, and only by one?

Probably because that number means a whole lot more than just its numerical value. I think people celebrate hope more than anything. Every 1^st of the 1^st month is an excuse to start new. It’s a reason to begin to mend bridges, to make new vows (I did see someone get proposed to on new years day), to do something better, to do something new. This hope is pretty silly, as we don’t change with the passing of one day. Not really, anyway.

Not that that should make us despair and give up on New Years altogether. Honestly, I think that just like Christmas and Thanksgiving should be continually on our minds, New Years should be a daily event. Maybe each day only changes the dials on the day switch, and only once every year it changes the year switch, but each day is a new beginning. I am a firm believer in changing our lives one day at a time, and I don’t believe that once every year is a good way to go about it. Each morning can have the New Year Spirit, just as each meal can have the Thanksgiving Spirit, and each moment we have with others can be filled with the Spirit of Christmas. Each day can be a holiday, and I’m glad about that.

So here’s to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And for the whole year round, and though it is terribly politically correct to say it (though I mean it in a terribly politically incorrect way) Happy Holidays!

As a disclaimer, I really am not normally this introspective and pondering. Most of the time I talk about complete nonsense. I’m afraid I’m a bit out of practice of late, due to a lack of contact with the outside world. My office can hardly be referred to as outside, and apart from that I find it hard to wander far from my house during the winter break. I’ve been awfully boring this vacation.