By custom or habit, we are driven to say “Happy New Year” for a period of time after the Gregorian calendar begins again, the celebration has been done and the Rose Parade starts. It’s one of those greetings like “Good morning” or “How are you” that people in our culture use but don’t think much about. They really don’t expect there to be a response like “I’m feeling horrible today” or “What’s to be so happy about I’ve been diagnosed with cancer” or “What’s actually new this year?”
I know these are just polite social greetings and perhaps aspirational about starting a new year but there’s a lot to be unhappy about and there’s a lot of old baggage that we still have to deal with this year. Let me explain.
I suppose that I should be happy that I don’t live in Gaza or Ukraine and have to worry about having my house bombed and my family killed. Or that I’m not one of the 147 Palestinian journalists who have been killed since Oct. 7 of last year. We still have to deal with these old conflicts and there’s nothing new about this. Israel and Palestine have been at it for decades and the war and retributions are like Biblical stories.
Here in America we still have tens of thousands of homeless people on our streets and a maniacal ex-president who wants to return to the White House just to prove he’s not a criminal. What would be “aspirational” this year is if the Orange man were finally convicted of any number of crimes and put in an orange jumpsuit. What isn’t new is that some 64% of Republicans still believe that the 2020 election was stolen from him, without there being a scintilla of evidence to support such a belief. This kind of ignorance isn’t anything new either. In fact it verges on the borderline of being boring “old news” every time it’s reported as news.
And the most curious synchronicity of the new year calendar was that the anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection came on the day of the Epiphany, the Christian holiday commemorating the first manifestation of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. However, the word itself has a more common meaning; a sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something. And an intuitive grasp of reality through something (such as an event) usually simple and striking. Thank you, Merriam-Webster.
I’m pretty damn sure that the double meaning of the coincidence of the calendar was lost on Christian evangelicals who support the ex-president. But hey it’s a new year and miracles could still happen. Sure, the Supreme Court could enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution Disqualification from Holding Office, which reads:
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
The operational words without the ex-president actually being convicted yet are “shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.
I think that it’s perfectly self-evident what he did and continues to do to support the 1,200 convicted insurrectionists. It would be surprisingly “new” if Trump were barred from even being on the ballot by the US Supreme Court.
Still, on a more personal note we are all still grappling with the past, the pandemic, inflation, four years of Trump chaos and wars and that’s just not something new. Our personal past lives, relationships, conflicts and joys are all part of our current lives and have so much influence on our present new year even in the most subtle or subconscious ways― the old and the new are always conjoined. And being in denial of our personal or historic pasts is never a good idea, as we may be bound to repeat them as we often do if we forget them.
So, I guess the happiest thing for those of us who have survived 2023 to say is we made it to another year but as for it actually bringing something “new,” well I guess that depends on what you’re going to do with the year to make it that way.
Got any resolutions that will actually change your life?