What Would Jimmy Do?

Happy 2022 — civilizations around the world have been celebrating the start of each new year for at least four millennia. Today, most New Year’s festivities begin on December 31 and continue into the early hours of January 1. Common traditions include attending parties, eating special New Year’s foods, making resolutions for the new year and watching fireworks displays.

Years ago, in Babylon, the first new moon following the vernal equinox — the day in late March with an equal amount of sunlight and darkness — heralded the start of a new year.

Throughout antiquity, civilizations around the world developed increasingly sophisticated calendars, typically pinning the first day of the year to an agricultural or astronomical event. 

January 1 became the first day of the year when the Gregorian calendar was instituted, but Christian leaders temporarily replaced January 1 as the first of the year with days carrying more religious significance, like December 25th — Pope Gregory XIII re-established January 1 as New Year’s Day in 1582.

And then, of course, there is the time honored tradition of making resolutions for the new year. You all know that I faithfully make resolutions every year, and every year I explain why it’s not necessarily stupid, but it is, for most people, a fruitless exercise.

The practice of making resolutions for the new year is thought to have first caught on among the ancient Babylonians, who made promises in order to earn the favor of the gods and start the year off on the right foot.

I recently read that 72 percent of people over the age of 45 and 40 percent of those 45 or younger don’t bother to make resolutions. For those who do make a New Year’s resolution, less than 25 percent stick with them after 30 days and only 8 percent actually follow through on their resolutions.

As I say every year, why do we even bother with resolutions that are so predictably unachievable?
Well, here’s at least part of the problem…. resolutions are usually (often lofty) goals. Goals are outcomes — resolutions are actions. 

If you look back over the past several years at my resolutions (check the archives if you’re interested) you’ll see that I’ve recently followed some “rules” when writing them. My resolutions have focused more on the process, not the goal. For instance one of my resolutions was to drive by the Shepherd Wellness Center a number of times — not to get in shape or improve my fitness.

Also, success with a resolution is tied to the discipline of performance rather that that of achievement. One of my resolutions was write a “tweet.” Notice that I didn’t say I was actually going to “tweet” anything. So I can succeed just by writing down something that could be “tweeted” without having to actually complete the process.

I’m sure people like me will continue to make resolutions — hopefully, we will resolve to do things that we’ll be glad we did when we look back on 2022….
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Today is the last day of 2021. It certainly didn’t live up to my expectations, but like every day, there a lot of things to be thankful for. One publication picked perseverance as their word of the year. I think it was a very appropriate choice — that’s what a lot of us did this year — persevere. 

But — we made it through the year. In just a few hours, it’ll be another year and a new beginning. What the new year brings to us will depend a great deal on what we bring to the new year.
Happy New Year!
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In our downstairs hall, we have a brass wall hanging that at first looks like an elephant head. But on closer examination, it’s apparent that it’s not a real elephant head — it’s a brass “carving” of Ganesha, one of the most important gods in Hinduism. Ganesha is also worshipped as a principal deity in both Jainism and Buddhism. 

Ganesha is the son of Shiva and Parvati and he is the brother of Karthikeya, the god of war.
There are a lot of different stories about the birth of Ganesha, including one in which Parvati makes her son out of a piece of cloth and asks her consort, Shiva, to bring him to life.

But one of the best known myths begins with Parvati taking a bath and longing for someone to keep Shiva from barging in on her, as was his habit. As she bathes, she kneads the dirt that she rubs off her body into the shape of a child, who comes to life. But when Shiva sees the handsome young boy he, or one of his attendants, cuts off the child’s head. Then Shiva cuts off an elephant’s head to bestow it on the headless Ganesha, but during the process one of the tusks is shattered. (People often notice the missing tusk on the head hanging in our hall.) According to this version of the myth, Ganesha is the child of Parvati alone — a child born despite Shiva’s interference. However — Ganesha is traditionally regarded as the child of both Shiva and Parvati.

In Hindu art, Ganesha is portrayed in various ways depending on specific cultures, like Indian, Cambodian, Javanese, etc., but he is most often depicted with the head of an elephant and a rather portly human body. It is believed that Ganesha clears the obstacles and paves the way for us to move forward in life. The large elephant head of Lord Ganesha symbolizes wisdom, understanding, and a discriminating intellect that one must possess to attain perfection in life.

So when someone asks about our wall hanging, we just tell them that’s it’s from India — and it’s an elephant head….
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Well, 2021 is drawing to a close. One good thing that can be said about it — it wasn’t as bad as 2020, that so far leads the list of worst years ever. Around this time every year, it’s nice to think back about the year that’s about to pass into history. Everyone has a different perspective and remembers different things, but here’s some of mine.

For a while this year it seemed that COVID-19 was in our rearview mirror, but it’s not. Maybe that’s one reason that 2021 didn’t live up to our hopes and expectations….
Kampala Harris became the first Black, Indian and woman Vice President of the United States. Donald Trump became the first president in history to be impeached — twice. A violent mob attacked the Capitol building. Elon Musk surpassed Jeff Bezos as the wealthiest person in the world. 2021’s Super Bowl, between the Buccaneers and Chiefs, turned out to be a real sleeper. A large container ship got stuck in the Suez Canal and kicked off a huge “supply chain” problem. The President’s dog bit a couple of people and had to go into “time out’ for a while. The Pentagon released its report on UFOs (now called “unexplained aerial phenomenon”) calling it a national security threat. The report never said it was aliens — but — it never said it was not aliens…. NASA landed a new Mars rover on the planet, named Perseverance — an appropriate name in 2021. There was a big to-do over a toy company releasing a gender-neutral version of Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. Six of Dr. Seuss’ books were taken off the market because they contained racist and insensitive images.The 2020 Tokyo Olympics were held in 2021 — with no spectators. Bill Cosby was released from prison after being convicted on a number of charges. The U.S. rejoined the Paris Climate Accord and WHO. The U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan. Raul Castro (Fidel’s brother) stepped down as head of Cuba’s Communist Party. President Biden signed legislation officially establishing June 19 as Juneteenth National Independence Day — a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. Britney Spears gained her “freedom” after 13 years of conservatorship. El Salvador became the first country to make Bitcoin a national currency.

That’s some of what I remember of 2021 — the year started on a Friday and will end on a Friday. It is the 21st year of the 21st century and the second year of the 2020’s decade. Like all years, there’s been some good and some bad. The United Nations declared 2021 the International Year of Peace and Trust. Even though I guess we didn’t live up that goal, it still was an improvement over 2020, and we can all look forward to 2022 being even better…..
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Well, here it is time for my pretty-much annual Christmas Blog. Things aren’t exactly back to “normal” yet, so Christmas probably won’t be considered “traditional” again. But — what is “traditional?” That depends on a lot of things, including your nationality, where you live, how you were raised, what you believe, or don’t believe, etc. 

I’ve celebrated over 80 Christmases and a lot of them have been what many people would consider “traditional,” with family and friends. Some of them have been pretty isolated with no people around —  the only way to tell it was Christmas was to check the calendar. Even though many have been very different, they all have been memorable.

Some of the most memorable have been those celebrated in other countries, whose traditions might seem strange to others, but those traditions are very important and meaningful to those celebrating them.

Quite a few years ago I was in in Syria — not for Christmas, but for a few days prior to Christmas. I don’t remember a lot, but some of their (Christian) traditions are similar to ours — some not so much. I remember the houses, buildings, shopping centers and a lot of the trees all being decorated with Christmas lights.On December 6th, Christian families attend special Masses held in the churches. Christians, that celebrate Christmas, make up only about ten percent of the population of Syria. The Mass held on Christmas morning consists of a procession and a bonfire is lit. During the Mass, the priest walks around the church carrying a figure of Jesus Christ in his hand, while the people sing hymns. After the prayers, the priest performs the “touch of peace,” where he touches a person’s hand and the touch is passed from one person to another in the church — this ensures the blessings are passed on.

The thing I remember the most about the Syrian Christmas activities is that the smallest camel who carried the “Three Wise Men,” is believed to bring gifts for the Syrian children. The youngest and smallest camel carrying the “Three Kings” or “Magi,” who followed the star to search for Baby Jesus, was drained by the long journey and fell down. Jesus Christ is said to have blessed the camel with immortal life. Syrians believe that that camel brings gifts to the children every year.

So no matter where you are, who you’re with, whether you got presents under a tree, in your shoes, or someplace else, and the gifts came from a camel, a goat, or Santa, this Christmas will be merry… and memorable.
Merry Christmas!
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Today is Christmas Eve.
May you never be too grown up to search the skies tonight….
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In continuing with the Christmas theme of late, Claire has every Christmas tree ornament that the White House Historical Association has ever produced. 

The White House Historical Association has released a Christmas tree ornament every year, beginning in 1981. All ornament sales support the mission of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Association to protect, preserve, and provide public access to the history of the White House. 

The first ornament in 1981, “Angel in Flight,” depicted a copper weather vane inspired by those atop many historic American buildings, such as Mount Vernon and Independence Hall. 

Some of the ornaments have included a fire truck, a steam train and even a helicopter — because the decorations are not only meant to brighten people’s homes, they are intended to shine a light on lesser-known stories from America’s political past. The fire truck was inspired by the time Herbert Hoover’s Christmas Eve was interrupted by a blaze in the West Wing (1929,) and the helicopter alludes to Dwight Eisenhower becoming the first President to regularly fly in one. 

Each year’s design is based on a different presidency or, occasionally, a key White House anniversary, with the president-focused ornaments beginning with George Washington and progressing in chronological order. Each ornament comes with an information booklet, making each one a historical education tool. 

The WHHA was founded in 1961 by Jackie Kennedy. The decision to feature a different presidency every year was made early on — the system helps the nonpartisan organization avoid any contentious discussions about what the focus should be in any given year.
Since Christmas occurs more often that presidents are elected, the ornament will catch up with the present day fairly soon. When this happens, the design will either start again with Washington or, more likely, move on to other themes inspired by White House history.

The White House Chief Usher, Rex Scouten, arranged to have the Association’s first ornament hung on the Blue Room Christmas tree in 1981. This started the tradition of hanging the Association’s ornament on that official tree each year. 

Every ornament is American-made in Lincoln, Rhode Island by ChemArt Manufacturing. The company has made all the ornaments since the first one in 1981.
All the ornaments are on display on our Christmas tree….
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Today is the first day of winter. I’m not crazy about winter, but one good thing about it is that starting today, the days are getting longer.

Yesterday was the winter solstice — the shortest day of the year, when the sun appears at its most southerly position. This is true in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, yesterday marked the longest day of the year.
The solstice usually (but not always) takes place on December 21. The time that the solstice occurs shifts every year because the time it takes for the sun to reappear in the same spot as seen from earth (the solar year) doesn’t exactly match up with our calendar year.

So why does the solstice even happen? The reason we experience seasons is because the Earth is tilted on its rotational axis. As the Earth moves around the sun, each hemisphere experiences winter when it’s tilted away from the sun and summer when it’s tilted toward the sun.

As to why the Earth is tilted, no one really knows for sure, but scientists think that billions of years ago, the Earth was subject to violent collisions that caused the axis to tilt. 

Solstice celebrations have traditionally been held around the world…. last year, and maybe this year, a lot of the celebrations have been scaled back, or completely canceled because of the Covid pandemic.
One of the most famous solstice celebrations is at Stonehenge in the UK. During the winter solstice, visitors have the opportunity to enter the mysterious stone circle for a sunrise ceremony run by local pagan and druid groups. The gathering was canceled last year but scheduled to be held this year. That could change due to the rapid spread of the omicron variant.

If you don’t want to go to a solstice celebration, try this — stand outside at noon and look at your shadow (assuming the sun is shining.) It’s the longest shadow that you’ll cast all year. I realize that it’s a little late to try it this year — and — there was no sun yesterday, so remember it for next year. In the meantime, go outside at noon on the day of the summer solstice and you’ll see almost no shadow.

Anyhow, winter is here — for me, that’s the bad news; the good news is that the days are getting longer. And soon…. it’ll be spring. Bill Veeck once said, “There are only two seasons — winter and baseball.”
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Well, it’s that time again — the new year is almost here and that means it’s time for my annual New Year’s Resolution blog. I know I go through this same spiel every year, but I do it to remind you not to be too hard on me when I don’t live up new year’s expectations….
Resolutions are a way of expressing one’s desire to change something in themselves or adapt to a new challenge. We all know that very few succeed in pursuing their resolution(s) and many come up with excuses for failing to carry out their resolution.

Actually, I never make excuses — I only explain why keeping some of my resolutions was not possible, usually due to forces beyond my control. But nonetheless, I annually make resolutions, always with the best intentions and fully intend to keep them. I also readily admit when I fall short.

I used to make a long list of resolutions — the past few years I’ve shortened the list and made my resolutions more realistic…. that’s my plan again for 2022. A short list with a reasonable chance to succeed in keeping them all. So, here’s my list for the coming year:
• Even though in the past, I’ve resolved to be nicer to people, this year I resolve to be extra nice to people that do exactly what I want.
• Although I don’t read, or understand, “Tweets,” and in the past I’ve resolved (unsuccessfully) to do one, this year I resolve to write one.
• Last year I resolved to become really good at procrastination — I think I’ll be able to accomplish that this year — or maybe next year.
• I resolve to be more optimistic in 2022 — I will always look at my wine glass as half-full, not half-empty.

That’s my list — all admiral resolutions that I think I can achieve. It’s been a tough couple of years for all of us, but once again the new year offers us a new beginning. No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again.
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