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Dorothy Copus Brush I hope all your days are joyous in 2001 "Time has no divisions to mark its passage,
there is never a thunder-storm or blare of trumpets to announce
the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century
begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols." Thomas Mann penned those words, and he would
have been amazed at the worldwide celebration that welcomed the
new millennium in 2000. Now that 2001 is here the dispute over
when the millennium really began, 2000 or 2001, can be put to
rest. Before 2000 arrived last year we were all
bombarded with frightening scenarios of Y2K. I just read a humorous
little bit of news left over from that predicted chaos that never
happened. In a Dallas hospital the staff was prepared for the
worst. They had a supply of cowbells to give to patients in case
their call buttons failed. Once, the year's turnover was pictured as
an old, bearded man with a scythe in hand shuffling off the stage
as a baby in a diaper with a New Year's banner across his chest
arrived. That image began in Germany in the 14th century.
Charles Dickens described it as "The New Year, like an Infant
Heir to the whole world, was waited for with welcomes, presents
and rejoicings." But the use of a baby to depict the beginning
of a new year went back even further to Greece around 600 BC.
Egypt, too, used an infant as the symbol of rebirth, and later
the Romans followed suit. Just what goes through one's mind as the new
year arrives depends on age. For youth, looking ahead to another
year, the thoughts are about dreams they hope to fulfill. For
them the past is prologue. By middle age there are still thoughts of
the future but now each passing year leaves memories, both good
and bad, but too strong to forget just because a new year is
beginning. By the time one reaches that stage in life
described in song as "the days dwindle down to a precious
few," a new year finds one counting the losses and additions
of the waning year. Many family and friends are gone, but the
family tree has grown more branches and added new life. It is at this time of life that the true meaning
of "Auld Lang Syne" is understood and appreciated.
The Scottish translation is "old long since" but for
us it says, good old days long past. It takes a heap of livin'
to be able to sing that song with conviction. In this first week of 2001, I wish you the best of the days to come! |