WAKEFULNESS IS BETTER THAN TV
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No New Year's Bender
Will Ever Change That Posted 3/15/03 -written 12/31/01 In another of our endless attempts to understand and explain our predicament, some helpful Roman once invented a god named Janus; or maybe it was a think-tank of Romans. Anyway, you may not be aware that Janus is not just a investment fund; Janus, the god, predates Wall Street (but not money, which is as old as sin). This god, Janus (even more than your typical politician or Enron Exec), is depicted as being two-faced ...literally. Imagine a head with two profiles: you could be looking at President Doublespeak or Janus. With his eternally split personality, bipolar Janus forever covers two bases at once. As the Diety of Doors, Janus guards the Gates of Time, staring back and forth simultaneously. He keeps the past and future conveniently separated for purposes of rational distinction. He's such a perfect icon for the job we even named a month after him and called it the "beginning of the year" (as if there ever was such a thing). Janus' month, it so happens, is upon us right now, growling like a diesel at a grade crossing once more threatening to flatten our stalled-on-the-tracks, perpetually antiquated 2001 Crono-mobile. And it seemed so shiney and new just 12 months ago! Of course it might be that Janus really is a god, but, in the peculiar manner of all gods, old Janus sounds suspiciously familiar. He sounds like you and me: stuck in the moment, always looking both ways at once in an effort to get a bead on the situation, trying to figure out which way to hop. If any year was designed to undermine all complacency it has to be 2001. What the past year has said to us is, "Put a lid on archaic point's of view and forget about relying on the tried and untrue." But never underestimate our capacity to forge ahead into the deep past . Once upon a time, for instance, we resorted to blowing things up to resolve conflicts. But in these digitally-enhanced days, enlightened and fully armed with state-of-the-art wizardry, when trouble comes, we've found the best way to deal with a bad situation is to... blow things up. We do this surgically now, of course, with global positioning satellites, lasers, and smart bombs; so you could say that as the year 2001 dissolves into the future, we're just like that god we've been talking about. Like Janus we've got our eyes peeled in two directions at once. Consequently, we're never really here nor there. What do you think... at the very least, doesn't this day provide ample opportunity? Wouldn't it be a perfect time to start ...being here, that is? Waking up to what we're doing to ourselves and our planet? Or do we look forward to the prospect of more oil wars and an even more turbid atmosphere? For those of us whose hope it
is that we'll get wiser with age there's a great line in a song
from the Bob Dylan' Love and Theft allbum, that bears
hearing. It goes: And, of course we can. In fact, human history could be considered one bad remake. Oh, we change directors and actors every generation or so, and do a fresh rewrite to keep things interesting for the new blood; but the daily news is usually a case of syndicated re-runs. But here, at the precipice of a new year, hope must spring eternal, right? Otherwise, why bother? But, how did they handle the New Year Ancient Rome. Back then, the beginning of a New Year was a time to expunge the ills of the past and establish new patterns for the next twelve months. Friends reconciled differences, adversaries suspended litigation, and people exchanged gifts. Many Romans seeking favor brought gifts to the Emperor: simple branches of bay and palm leaves. And Roman Senators received flowers and fruits. Roman merchants carried this gift-giving custom as far east as Persia and, ultimately, continued toward the rising sun until they reached Washington. These merchants, now multinational corporations, have evolved their appreciation of presidents and senators into leaving satchels of soft money in appropriate places around town. As I suggested, ancient patterns are hard to break; but that's why we have new years resolutions. They're much easier to break. Sadly though, things such as legalized political graft are happening daily before our eyes, we really do suffer a tradition of inattention. But, now that recent events have brought home the dangers of self-distraction maybe we'll resolve to make some changes. An itinerant rabbi of Roman times whose birthday we just celebrated, knew the drill when he said, "...forget thinking about tomorrow, tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient to this day is the evil thereof." In other words: if we're absorbed in myths of progress while being tossed by the force of the past, we lose sight of what's going on right under our noses. And no new year's bender will ever correct that. |
essay index Page 1 What Else Could Go Wrong? Ask Icarus Close To The Truth The Rhythm Knights Waiting For An Ambulance Page 2 No New Year's Bender |
All materials by Jim Culleny copyright 2003 ][ contact: info@noutopia.com