January again?
By Dolly Dearner
“No one ever regarded the first of January with indifference.” So said the British writer Charles Lamb in 1820.
It isn’t hard to find evidence for this claim. Actor Gary Cole said, “I miss everything about Chicago except January and February.” The French author Colette called January “the month of empty pockets.” Roald Dahl, who wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and other imaginative works, turned his imagination to the calendar and said, “If I had my way, I would remove January from the calendar altogether and have an extra July instead.”
As Charles Lamb predicted, some people take a different view of the first month:
“January is the quietest month in the garden. But just because it looks quiet doesn’t mean that nothing is happening.” (Rosalie Muller Wright, writer/editor).
“I love beginnings. If I were in charge of calendars, every day would be January 1.” (Jerry Spinelli, children’s author).
On January 9, 2024, the New York Times published an article by Steven Kurutz entitled “January’s Secret: It’s the Best Month.” Although he starts by calling it the “sad sack of months,” he praises its peace and quiet and the absence of holiday hassles. NYC, he says, has fewer tourists; people who want to travel can get a better deal on less crowded airlines, accommodations, museums, and shows. A surprising number of readers commenting on the story agree with him, citing more time for relaxation, reflection, and generally doing nothing. Others avidly dislike January; a reader from Boulder complained of “31 days of shoveling snow,” and another dismissed the whole article with “What a load of tripe!” (You can’t please everyone).
Even if no one greets the new year with indifference, the topic of resolutions often sparks ambivalence or even a little cynicism:
From journalist/author Helen Fielding: “I think it would be much more sensible if resolutions began generally on January the second.”
And from Oscar Wilde, a keen observer of human nature: “Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account.”
It is a constant in human cultures to view the new year as a time of new opportunities, and to consider how our own corner of space and time can be enhanced and made better than it was before.
Here is one such opportunity: be more involved in your neighborhood association! We have a beautiful neighborhood, and it got that way from time, effort, and commitment of the people who live here. If you have not yet signed up for a committee, attended an event, or come to a Cleveland Neighborhood Association meeting, January is a fine time to start. If you are already active, that’s great. Maybe you can encourage another neighbor to become active as well. Whether you like January or not, this is a good way to start 2025.
“And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.”
--Rainer Maria Rilke