The New Year, the transition from one year to the next, which is celebrated across the world with spectacular fireworks displays and ominous countdowns, is thought of as a time to reflect on what has been and look to what could be. We think of the times good and bad and in between of the past year and wonder what the next will bring. It’s a time to pause and think for a moment, a checkpoint, where you “save your data” and then move on to the next level.
Although people often do not follow through with their New Year’s resolutions, it is fascinating to think of all the people, who in unison have set themselves goals to strive for and perhaps even to change their ways of living.
We have given this time, which is really just another day, much more meaning and power. The sky does not spin and no natural phenomena happen to signify that something has changed, yet the mindsets of thousands have been altered for a period of time to look to a brighter future. Under these circumstances, it truly is the thought that counts. Change on a large scale begins with the individual.
The idea of people uniting at a certain time got me thinking about the significance of years. Other than for the obvious use of keeping track of time, why do we have years?
What if years are just a concept created to make the notion of moving forward infinitely through time more bearable? We have created an endless cycle, a restart button for time. Once we climb to the top of the ladder, we fall back down and start over instead of simply climbing forever with no goal of what we are climbing to in sight. We have made time a circle instead of a line.
Our human perception of time means that we are moving forward forever, flailing haplessly through spacetime and we need years to counter this feeling and give us a foreseeable end. Having years, having that goal to reach by the end of the year is part of what gives us drive to better ourselves and in turn, the world.