WHAT WILL YOU be doing tonight to “ring out the old, ring in the new”? A friend of mine says New Year’s Eve is the saddest night of the year. Why? It’s not just because an old year is dying but that a new one lurks in the shadows laden with the uncertainty and fears and the same pains and challenges as the outgoing one. We know that full well but that doesn’t stop us from hoping.

So, we put on ridiculous headdresses, run into more debt to buy expensive wear-one-time evening clothes, and raid the bank once again for inflated entrance fees to splashy events. That’s the view of my friend, to which someone else counters with the retort, “What the hell! Everybody seeks happiness in their own way!”

I must confess I’ve never been attracted to the glitter and glamour of most New Year’s Eve events. Hometown fellowship of friends and family is more my style, but to each his own. Of one thing I’m certain, it won’t take long after the New Year welcome to be brought back down to earth and the harsh reality that we will have to face, good and bad, as the months roll by. Perhaps the least we can hope for is that 2011 will not be as bizarre, brutish and bewildering as 2010.

Some of the things which occurred in our country over the past 12 months defied the imagination of even the most creative storyteller. Who would even have imagined that this entire nation’s life would become bound up in the future of one man, who few of our people knew anything of before, a man whose story, as it churned out one excruciating day after another, dragged us down to a level we could not have imagined?

Who is to tell if 2011 might not be holding in store some other traumatic surprises, bringing us once again before the eyes of the world as a crazy, mixed-up kind of place, squandering its good name recklessly? Despite being whisked away in a celebrity exit, private jet and all, the don’s shadow is still hanging over us. With the trial yet to come, the ghost of May 2010 has not yet been laid to rest.

The year was not all occasion for despair, thankfully. Despite our determination to self-destruct, we did make some headway. Even if excessive hype and vulgar self-promotion made it difficult to acknowledge some of the claims of achievement, good things did happen. Positive signs were not always to be found in high places, but in the simple achievements of ordinary people who still managed to keep their children clothed, fed and housed, against tremendous odds.

Despite what some may think of us, not every Jamaican went before a magistrate on criminal charges – or any charges at all. Most people took their destiny into their own hands and found ways to survive layoffs, down-turns and circumstances which could’ve shrivelled the spirit if we weren’t strong.

IT WAS NOT THE BEST YEAR for politics and politicians. Because of their arrogance and stupidity, more and more of our people have become disillusioned and cynical about the way we treat our democracy. Please note, though, that a new generation is here and they are not prepared to tolerate the high-handed old style of governance. People are no longer willing to accept the ancient custom of critical decisions about our lives being taken in secret, and when revealed (flushed out is more like it), our leaders seem unwilling to recognise that this land is not their personal fiefdom.

Lest we forget, it is the domain of all of the 2.6 million, give or take the 60 who still labour under the misconception that they have the monopoly on power. Well, we have a right to know and decide what we want. The worst thing 2011 could bring is a hardening of attitude, especially of a new generation, towards the democratic process, to the point where it is regarded as irrelevant. It is very nearly there now. It should be interesting to see if there is willingness to encourage a turnaround, while there’s still time.

THE ENDING OF THE OLD and the starting of a new is opportunity for reflection and memories. What Shakespeare described as “the end, the necessary end, that will come when it will come” took away from us in 2010 several people of the status we have taken to calling iconic. My deepest, most personal loss was Rex – friend, brother, mentor, teacher. Every one of us who loved him is convinced that WE loved him better than all the rest. Now that we’ve accepted that he’s no longer here, we have come to recognise that from him, we received special gifts containing some special ingredient, which brought out the unique skill which he saw in each of us.

The arts and culture scene seemed to have lost more last year than we can remember. We mourned others too – Barry and John and so many more. We extolled the virtues of each and recorded for posterity only the best that we saw in them. Because of their legacy, we’re writing more, singing more, dancing more, painting, sculpting and turning the potter’s wheel and venturing into film-making, more than ever. We’ve been bequeathed possibilities for a new and brighter future.

BY THE TIME 2011 completes its twelve allotted months, hopefully we should have in place the programme for observance of our country’s 50th anniversary as a nation. What will that programme be? If it is going to be only jump up and jollification, or – worse yet – political manipulation – it will be opportunity lost. That is why the New Year should begin with the articulation of the aims and objectives of the celebration and how, together, not apart, we will weave a One-Love tapestry instead of a blueprint for divisiveness.

So when the countdown to tomorrow begins later tonight, what will you be counting towards? Mek up our minds, sistren and bredrin… What will we hope for – the torments of yesteryear or hopes for a better tomorrow?

RELEVANT THOUGHT: On the approach of a New Year, we too can believe in something better than experience has justified us in hoping for.

– Robert Lynd (author) The Blue Lion.

HAVE A HAPPY…

gloudonb@yahoo.com