Redtree Times

New Year’s eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights.

–-Hamilton Wright Mabie, My Study Fire (1890)

Toddlers flying at us on the back of bats on New Year’s Eve. I was going to say to say that those Victorians were just a little off then out of the dark a whole bunch of these bat-riding babies descended on me this morning. Getting a jump on the holiday, I guess.

I had never heard of Hamilton Wright Mabie before about 5 AM this morning– right after being accosted by those nasty urchins. I came across a group of quotes and passages from his work and found myself nodding in agreement to many of them. I was intrigued. It turns out he was an American essayist, editor, critic, and lecturer. Mabie published many books, including a series of children’s books called Every Child Should Know which included titles such as Heroes Every Child Should Know and others in that vein. Most of his other books were essay most of which dealt with literature or his personal observations on nature and life.

Even so, there’s little written about this fellow who died on this very day, December 31, back in 1916 at the age of 70. It appears that that New Year’s Eve was not like every other night for him.

Several of his other quotes caught my eye:

Nothing is lost upon a man who is bent upon growth; nothing wasted on one who is always preparing for – life by keeping eyes, mind and heart open to nature, men, books, experience – and what he gathers serves him at unexpected moments in unforeseen ways.

And this one which advises us to live life fully and take risks rather than sit idly by:

It is better to go down on the great seas which human hearts were made to sail than to rot at the wharves in ignoble anchorage.

There were more equally interesting passages, but it was one at the top that caught my eye. The natural world including the universe in its entirety takes no note of this particular day yet for we humans this transition from one year to the next holds a certain fascination.

Maybe it’s the memento mori aspect of it, that the change of the year moves us one calendar year closer to our ultimate demise.

Or maybe it’s the tabula rasa aspect, that the new year offers us a clean slate on which we can write our destinies.

I can’t think of any other applicable Latin phrases at the moment, so I guess I’m done with trying to figure out our fascination with the New Year.

I tend to agree with Mabie, that it is pretty much like every other night. But, of course, like everybody, I do take pause on this eve to recollect the past year, to note the changes and make an accounting of the gains and losses that took place.

To consider what I might do differently in this future year. To utter a hope or two for myself and others.

Like I said, it’s pretty much like every other night.

Except for the babies and bats.

Here’s song that has nothing to do with New Years on its face. But maybe it does. This is What a Difference a Day Makes from the great Dinah Washington.

Have a good New Year’s Eve. Just keep an eye out for bats, especially if there’s a menacing baby bat-jockey on board. Believe me, I know. One got tangled up in my hair and I think I might have to get a rabies shot.

It’s the same every New Year with these little punks and their pet bats. Damn this day.