Cows can’t tell time, neither can some politicians
Work in Progress/by Ivan Morgan
Its important to think outside the box. So many don’t; so many just take things as they come and accept stuff without ever questioning or wondering why it is. Or challenge it.
Take New Year’s for instance. On January 1st it switched over; now it’s 2025. Folks have parties. They count down to midnight. Start new calendars. Why is that day the new year? It has never felt like a new year starts on that day to me.
To me September is the start of a new year, when summer is over, schools restart, university reconvenes, and everyone gets back into the work mode.
Or maybe it’s the first good day of spring? It’s a new year – grass is turning green, leaves are in bud, the world is thawing out and waking up – everything is new. Why isn’t that the new year?
Why is it randomly in the middle of winter? It has never made sense to me. Google tells me Pope Gregory XIII chose a new calendar that officially established January 1 as New Year’s Day in 1582. Well then, that clears everything up.
January 1st is our official New Year whether I like it on not, but only because for some reason we have all decided, or allowed ourselves to be told, that that’s when it is. None of us has a say.
For me that’s right up there with Daylight Savings. Research that! Makes no sense in our world yet we still do it – clocks springing forward and falling back every year. Why? Because we always have?
A lot of people think it is for farmers. It’s not. As one person dryly said in a documentary on the issue, “Cows can’t tell time.”
Different cultures celebrate and choose their new year – and the date and number – differently. The Chinese New Year this year is January 29th and will be called the year of the Snake. The Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) is in the fall. For them it’s the year 5785. Works for them.
Whenever one thinks the year begins, our official year, 2025, promises to be an interesting one. By this time next year, we could be living in a very different, perhaps very new, political climate. Here in this province, we are facing three elections – federal, provincial and municipal.
This time next year we could have many of the same faces in government, or there could be a big changing of the guard. Maybe January 1st is the official beginning of our new year, but with the outcomes of each election we could be seeing the beginning of new eras.
I have my thoughts on what’s going to happen, but it doesn’t matter what I think. It’s what you think that counts. You’ll be told the stakes are high, your future is on the line, there are dangers if you vote for their opponents whoever they are. Indeed, the stakes are high: for them, not for you. Your job is to vote for the best candidate in your area, regardless of political stripe. I recommend taking the time to meet and talk to as many as you can.
Maybe we can’t change what others think about New Year’s or Daylight Savings Time. Maybe we don’t have a say no matter how “outside the box” we think. Truth is, it doesn’t really matter. Use whatever system works for you.
We do, however, have a say in how we are governed. We can think outside the box, and we can have a say. We all choose who is going to look after our tax dollars.
It’s going to be an interesting political year full of twists and turns. I hope to have the good fortune to cover it all and I hope you will be reading it.
I cannot wait to see what we decide!
Ivan Morgan can be reached at ivan.morgan@gmail.com