The human race is not in complete agreement as to when a New
Year starts: the Chinese and Jews use lunar calendars, which produce different
starting days each year. The Jews
confuse the matter even more, celebrating the anniversary of the birth of the
world as the New Year in the fall and ignoring the first day of the Hebrew calendar
year, which occurs in the spring. That most of the world has settled on what is
the dead of winter for a majority of people as the beginning of the year seems
counterintuitive. Don’t the early shoots and buds of spring seem more like a
beginning than leafless branches or snow-covered streets?
Celebration traditions for any holiday might look strange to
an anthropologist from another planet, but they make sense to us. People gather
in groups and drink alcohol to mark many important occasions across cultures. No
other celebration, however, can attract one million people to one spot in the
middle of a small American island off the Atlantic Ocean or two million to a Brazilian
beach.
Most holidays also have a religious aspect, and for the
first day of the year, a secular holiday, spirituality has typically manifested
itself in a pledge to be a better person or improve yourself or the world
during the coming twelve months. Wikipedia’s sketchy but fact-filled article on
New Year’s resolutions reports that the Babylonians and Romans made promises to
their gods at the beginning of the year. Today, about 40% of all Americans make
New Year’s resolutions, most of them personal in nature.
While I think it’s important for people to improve their
lives, and especially their health, I’m going to propose a number of possible
New Year’s resolutions that also improve the world in which we live.
Here are some OpEdge New Year resolutions to consider:
1.
Don’t vote for anyone who questions human-caused
global warming, evolution, the moral imperative to accept as many Syrian
refugees as possible, same-sex marriage or a woman’s right to an abortion.
2.
Don’t vote for anyone who thinks lowering taxes
on the wealthy produces more jobs; supports charter schools, subsidies for the
oil and gas industry or privatization of government functions; or wants fewer or
looser gun laws and environmental regulations.
3.
Write your representatives and all political
candidates asking them to support lifting the cap on income assessed for Social
Security taxes; strengthening gun control laws; raising taxes on incomes over $250,000;
raising the gas tax and dedicating all the additional money raised to inner and
inter-city mass transit; forcing all charter schools to have unionized teaching
staffs; raising the minimum wage to $15.00/hour; forcing large corporations to
repatriate their income; and creating an easy path to citizenship for undocumented
aliens.
4.
Vote in every primary and general election.
5.
Attend at least one political rally in support
of a progressive cause.
6.
Do not watch Fox News or listen to any radio
station that carries Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity.
7.
Start composting —you can store the composted
materials in a plastic bag in your freezer until it’s convenient to dispose of it.
8.
Replace two car trips a week with mass transit,
walking or bicycling.
9.
If you don’t bicycle or walk to work, go to work
only in a vehicle carrying at least four people.
10. Spend
a half hour a day reading a history book that does not detail battles.
11. Contribute
money or time to one organization that is helping refugees of war.
12. Speak
up when someone at a social gathering starts spouting right-wing lies about the
President, Hillary Clinton, minorities, crime, guns, abortion, gay marriage or
any other issue.
I wish all my readers a prosperous and creative New Year!
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