A New Language for the New Year
A New Language for the New Year – We’re over the hump of winter: we’ve survived the Mayan end of time and the days are getting longer since the solstice. Now is the time for resolutions and implementing the changes you’d like to make in your life, and maybe in your world. As we start this brave new year, I am reminded of the T. S. Eliot quote, “For last year’s words belong to last year’s language, and next year’s words await another voice.”
I’m imagining that this could be a pretty good year for new words and a new language. The Presidential elections are over and that eliminates a lot of the nasty words right off the bat. “Fiscal Cliff” is so last year, and the world has not ended (again) because a bipartisan agreement has been reached to avoid it. What if the word “civility” makes a comeback this year and, while we’re at it, could this be the year that “gay marriage” just becomes “marriage”?
Let’s think really big: how about instead of “Meatless Mondays” we eat veggies 6 days a week and then have the occasional “Carnivore Night Out”? What if we demand new words such as GMO labeling on our food and then we can choose whether or not to boycott those items? Maybe let’s change the language of the National Park Service and instead call those areas “National Sacred Spaces” — then we can decide whether we’re allowing drilling, hunting, or ATV riding there. Hey, let’s shoot for the stars: could this be the year we get to say “high performance green car”? Sigh…. A girl can hope.