THE NEW NEXT YEAR

I always get homesick at the holidays starting with Thanksgiving and of course Christmas but not so much New Year's. Only a couple things marked the new year for me. One was the Late Night service at church where they always showed a missionary film that could give you nightmares and ended at midnight with everyone forming a circle to hold hands and sing "Blest Be the Tie That Binds" and "Until We meet Again." The other was the next day when after the parades and dinner, I usually got to be outdoors until late. I loved the isolation that could be enjoyed for most of the winter. My brother said that at one the point, only the mailman and the school bus came by as no one had to go by our house to get to theirs.

Even later on, when I could do more than go to church on New Year's Eve, I never did that much. I don't think of them as wasted opportunities as I wasn't that much of a people person to begin with. You can only watch so much. And it never came close to be exciting. More the usual over the years was me staying up to watch the coverage on TV. So, I still don't have very many feelings of anticipation  or nostalgia. After moving to the prairie, I entertained the thought of dancing naked around a fire to bring in the new year. Had I done so, I'm pretty sure the holiday would have risen to be my favorite.

But New Year's is more than parties and resolutions. It's making making various Top Ten lists of what was most important and making predictions as to what will be important in the coming year. It's an elitist mainstream exercise that predictably entertains. But beyond the usual, there is something about the new year. The most profound year for me was Y2K. I believe it was National Geographic that aired the ways various cities, cultures and peoples marked the coming of the new millennium.

It is hard to imagine The Next New Year (3000) when the world crosses over into another new millennium. I know some are hoping for dystopia because that seems to be so much fun to them right now. But I don't think it will be the Hollywood or literary versions. Just like I don't think it will be utopian. Although that would be my choice. Some don't think we'll ever get to the next millennium because of the various doomsday, end of the world, everybody moved elsewhere scenarios are in play. Bible believers have had everything pretty well spelled out for some time. They just don't know when it will be set in motion.

If nothing extraordinary happens, there is no reason to believe that we can't make it to that change of date. It will be different for sure, but if the basics hold up and they are what make a difference in whatever divides, harms or threatens to eliminate us, then there is a real chance. It is only a matter of choosing Love over Hate, Goodness over Evil, Being Fed over Starving, Peace over War, Inclusion over Exclusion, Freedom over Slavery, and the many other better ways that we cling to when all else has failed. Is it possible for humankind to live better and come to the next millennium with much to celebrate? Once 2013 is in the books, we'll only have 987 years to find out.



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