Another new year and another day that is not so different from the last. Yes, we're in a new millennium, but it's no different from 2008 or 2009. It's just a meaningless way of measuring time.
For most people the new year offers a tabula rasa - a chance to start over from scratch and erase all the bad habits that defined their life throughout the previous year. However, for me, it doesn't feel like much is changing. Nor do I feel like changing much. I enjoy my bad habits and those lingering 2 lbs I have been meaning to lose. I could drink a little less coffee and try to be a little more green, but I've grown to like the shaky feeling in my arms when I finish my third cup of coffee on an empty stomach, as I throw away my paper cup.
Maybe my cynicism is weighing heavy on me because it's a Monday morning and like most people, I hate Monday's and I am most definitely not a morning person. Or maybe I gained a little wisdom in the last year and understand the new year for exactly what it is - a day that isn't different from any other.
However, a while back I decided with the new year approaching I would resolve to speak more candidly and here is a passage that continues to inspire me to keep that resolution:
"If you ever doubt the power of language, listen more closely. Witness the magic the first time someone whispers "I love you." Watch a woman put on head phones, close her eyes, and have her life changed by a lyric. See a bad moment flipped upside down by a well-timed joke. Words propel us, empower us, make us human and more than human. We constantly struggle to say what we mean and mean what we say. To "wrestle with words and meanings." that's what t.s. eliot calls it. But as we whisper and shout, stutter and spin, we create order out of the chaos around us. We are built of words, and we live by them, too."
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