U2 once wrote that "nothing changes on New Year's Day". It seems true enough. But they also wrote "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me", which might discredit them a bit. Nevertheless, Bono has a point. Yes, the earth begins a new cycle around the sun. We buy new calenders. We make jokes like, "Good morning, haven't seen you since last year!" to our family members (at least, my family does; we're kind of lame). And we also make New Year's resolutions which last five minutes. But does all this amount to any particularly significant CHANGE? If not, then why do we bother staying up until midnight? All so that we can clink champagne glasses and maybe cop a "Happy New Year" snog? Hardly seems worth it, does it?
And yet, each year, I like to reflect on the year that has been, and at some point I like to think ahead to what I expect the newly born year to be like. I don't make resolutions, because I figure they don't really work; besides, why wait until New Year's Day to start dieting, or exercising, or quit smoking or shooting smack? Why put off what you probably should start doing (or stop doing) immediately? Do new resolutions work better when they come with some nice, neat sense of turning over a new leaf, as the earth starts that new orbit and we change our calenders? I doubt it. Some of my new year resolutions have worked, but others haven't. Any significant change in our lives will always be hard, whether it's made on 1 January or 27 August. In this sense, it's true that "nothing changes on New Year's Day".
That said, I do have to admit that I'm approaching 2008 with a sense of freshness - perhaps from the nice, extended break with family that I have just returned from; perhaps because, as a teacher, a new year IS significant, bringing with it new classes, new students, sometimes new subjects to teach. In my case, this change in the academic year is certainly a key aspect of 2008 for me. I was able, with very few tears (if any) to hand over some rather difficult classes at the end of last year, and now I look forward to the new classes that I am taking up this year. They won't all be easy, I'm sure, but sometimes a change in itself is a nice thing. I'm also looking forward to my second year of teaching, as I can't help feeling that I'll start the new year off much more effectively than I did in 2007. I'm more confident as a teacher, and hope that this will mean that, whatever challenges come my way in 2008, I will be better equipped to handle them. I also will have the joy this year of teaching Year 12 Literature - a subject I've always hoped I would get the chance to teach - and am confident that this class will give me a level of personal fulfillment that was perhaps lacking in some of the classes that I taught last year.
I am also entering my second year in my new suburb, and am starting the year at the same church. So, where last year brought a few too many changes with it, this year seems to be starting off with a pleasant amount of familiarity. I know where I stand better this year; less is uncertain, less is different. So, in some ways, it's nice enough that a few things are staying the same this New Year.
Some things never change, but other things in our lives are changing constantly. Someone or other said that the only constant in life is change. I'm not sure who it was, and I don't know if I agree with them. It might have been Homer Simpson, for all I know (although that's unlikely). But there's some truth in it, just as there's some truth in that U2 song. Who really knows how it all works. I certainly don't. But I hope this year's a good one.
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