Another Revolution

Every year, billions of us gather to observe a breathtakingly unexciting event. A completely imperceptible change in the state of the universe. The increase of a theoretical number.

That number will be 2017 soon.

The universe at large does not care about this change. The planets will continue their orbits. The stars will continue to shine. The comets will continue to wander.

Somewhere, an alien civilization will continue to thrive, unaware that the Times Square Ball has dropped.

Yet the new year is of supreme importance to humanity. New school terms and fiscal periods will begin. New laws will take effect. 2016 (viewed by many to be a terrible year) will finally be over.

This importance is self-derived; years are important because years are important. This is because the time and length of the new year is arbitrary, chosen by humans for reasons of operational simplicity. It marks another revolution of the Earth around the Sun.

It must be noted, though, that this arbitrary choice adds a certain profundity to our celebrations on New Year’s Eve. By celebrating nothing, we end up celebrating everything.

This is something everybody can be cheerful about. No person, country, company, church, object, or other worldly entity can lay claim to being the subject of celebration tonight; a unit of time has no ownership. Instead, the focus is the human spirit. In particular, we highlight its evolution throughout 2016, and look forward to its next chapter in 2017.

Tonight, despite the aliens’ indifference, we turn the page on the human story.