It’s here again, the end-beginning pair. What is the difference between December 31 and January 1? Not much really, except what we make up. Is it any different between December 30 and December 31, or between January 1 and January 2?
As it happens, there are no ends without beginnings, and there are no beginnings without ends.
Here We Are
So the year is almost complete, which of course means a new year is upon us just as soon.
With the Covid epidemic not settled, the difficulties continue. New variants pop up. New therapies are released. One year ago the talk of a vaccine was the most heartening thing. Now these vaccines are ubiquitous, and talk of pills are upon us.
Grim
In 2021, more than 3 million people have died of Covid. That is significantly more than those that died in 2020. So while many efforts have seemingly slowed the advance of Covid, and many people are vaccinated, the pandemic is still not under control. One can postulate that without the vaccines, far more would have died by this time.
And as previously mentioned, pandemics do not usually end quickly. Many go on for many years. So it is naive to expect Covid to simply disappear overnight.
And So
Time allows us some perspective. It also can motivate us to act.
A year end brings messages of joy, friendship, and comraderie. Unfortunately, if the past is anything to go by, these are only a temporary. Shortly thereafter humanity will return to its habituated hostility. And that will last indefinitely, or at least until the end of the next year. Then the cycle repeats again.
So what are we to do? I think that the recognition of this reality is enough to give one pause. We hope for better times, but we don’t change our ways. We pray for generosity, but we do not behave generously. We are humanity’s humans.
Will the new year bring a better world? It is my sad duty to tell the truth: The new year will not bring a better world. The new year will bring more of the same, only slightly different.
Doing
So what are we to do? If the humans on earth are not improving, what can? It seems to me that looking at oneself is the only practice worth doing. Not to justify our behaviors and attitudes, not to look why others are wrong or bad or to be shunned, not to defend or rationalize, but just to look without conclusions. Just to look and watch, without decisions, without opinion, without judgment. Can we watch ourselves without thinking about it, just watch and see?
What are you doing with youself? Can can let me know here.
The gold plaque is from a tomb in Peru, c. 500-200 BC. Courtesy Dudley P. Allen Fund at the Cleveland Museum of Art
The post The End of the Year and the Beginning of the Year apeared first in Smile If You Dare.