Reflections on Life and Faith,
by David Keating

Different Year, Same old World

New Years 2007

     So we've put Christmas behind us. The madness of post Christmas sales ("Boxing" Day/Week in Canada) has thoroughly purged us of any left over "peace on Earth, good will to men", and many of us are gearing up to toast the beginning of yet another trip round the sun for good ol' planet Earth.

     The symbolism is everywhere, and I don't mean ads for your favorite fermented or distilled beverage. We've just survived the shortest day for instance. Of course, if you live in the southern hemisphere, you've just survived the longest day. Heck, in Pretoria its twenty two degrees Celsius as I write this. And if you live nearer to the equator the whole longest/shortest idea is a bit of a wash since the length of the day doesn't change much there at all.

     Frankly, the whole globalization thing just makes this stuff way too complicated. I think it was better in Dad's day when a trip to a town ten miles away was a major undertaking not to be considered lightly. Those corrugated roads were murder.

     Now I get comments about the online version of my columns from Zimbabwe and Palestine faster than grandpa could have hitched up the horses or cranked the tin lizzy. Even symbols are only symbols if you can understand them.

     In the northern hemisphere, where I happen to reside, the sun will now, reluctantly no doubt, be persuaded to shine on my window just a little longer each day until, six months or so from now, it'll actually be visible at ten in the evening. (I know, no big deal for those who are far, far north, but work with me here okay?)

     So, as our superstitious ancestors might have said, the days are starting to renew themselves. The world is beginning to wake up once again. The cycle of life, which is also symbolized by the birth of Christ, is set to turn yet again.

     Have you ever looked at one of those artist's sketches of the solar system? You know, the ones that draw circles to represent the orbit of the planets? Around and around we go, each year the same as the one before it. I sometimes think that those circles may be ruts worn into space itself. We've traveled the same old path so often that, like that horse of grandpa's, we could find our way home in our sleep.

     Without getting caught up in technicalities, last year at this time the Earth was just about where it is now. Which is where it was year before last, and so on and so on and so on.

     Folks, let's face it; we're in a cosmic rut.

     In the literal sense, that's a good thing. It would be upsetting if the Earth decided to change course. I rather like the predictability of it all.

     But on the human scale of things, I wonder if it isn't time for a bit of a shakeup. We've been acting the same way toward each other and the planet for a very long time now. We have gotten into the unfortunate rut of exploiting one another and nature and justifying ourselves with some pretty lame excuses.

     Maybe we should try getting out of that rut. After all, Christmas is the symbol of an event that changed the way we thought about God and our relationship to Creation.

     God gave us the opportunity a couple of millennia ago, and keeps reminding us of it every year.

     Maybe we should climb out of our rut and give it a try. After all, the days aren't getting any shorter, uh, longer, uh, oh whatever.

     Give it some thought, as you raise your glass to 2007.

David Keating