The End As A Prelude To The Beginning

2024 draws to an end. Will it be a prelude to the beginning of 2025?

Before we continue with that thread, how was Christmas? It's a trick question. Christmas isn't over yet. If you think it is, you've given way to the forces of secular/commercial interests that see Christmas as a combination of a social/economic event having nothing to do with Christmas. If you're not sure what Christmas really is, see our last post.

Christmas began on December 25th. It continues. For Catholics, there's the Octave of Christmas. That's an 8-day stretch beginning with 12/25/24 extending to 1/1/25. There's theological significance, and liturgical practice to go with it. We'll leave it at that.

Then there's the 12 Days of Christmas. It's not an arbitrary number. Those 12 days begin on 12/25 and end on 1/5, the day before The Feast of the Epiphany. And the Epiphany itself is a big deal and a kind of second stage of Christmas.

So Christmas just got started. Get it?

What about New Year's? Well, there'll be a lot of hoo-hah for sure these next few days. In these parts people who've clearly lost their minds will show up in Times Square - some say as much as million of 'em - and stand in the rain without umbrellas (security issue) to watch a huge crystal ball drop some dozens of feet from a high rise building and flash "2025". Now that's something to look forward to, isn't it (he said facetiously)?

Never saw the point. If you did/do, go for it.

Once New Year's Eve ends, apparently some significant contingent of folks will wake up with a hangover. Never got that either. Not that adult beverages (especially champagne) don't add a sparkle to the evening, but do you seriously want to suffer for it the next day? Think it over.

Of course, let's not forget the nostalgia/looking back sentiments many of us experience. Now there's something natural that's common and pretty much normal - to an extent. The personal stuff outweighs the media stuff, right? Not that the death of well-known people isn't sad or anything, but, frankly, do you really know these people? If not, what's the big deal?

Oops, the clock is ticking and we haven't really addressed the prelude thread. OK, here goes.

2024 packed a lot of punch, don't you think? But it really left so much up in the air. Consider it all: social, cultural, economic, financial. Lot's went on, but nothing really BIG exploded and rocked the boat all that much. If that's a prelude to 2025, then expect more of the same, More of what?

More manipulation by the powers that be to convince us all that all is right with the world - at least our USA world. Of course, we know that everyone else is taking economic and social hits, from China clear across Asia to Europe. But the good 'ol USA remains above the fray. At least that's the narrative we keep hearing from the Feds - both the government and our esteemed Central Bank. 

Of course, with the exception of the rich, most folks aren't buying it. Hence the rather lopsided victory of the Big Orange Guy over the now-admitted-mentally-slipping Gray Geezer who purportedly "ran our country" (whatever that means) for the last four years. So not buying the narrative, 2024 was a fiction put out by interests who want to retain their advantage, vs. the rest of us who wonder just how long this goes on before something snaps.

Well, perhaps this doesn't really provide a specific definitive view of 2025. But it's got some hints and allows us all to use our imaginations - likely a better view than most of what the experts have been offering in recent days.

Not being by any means an expert, I'll stick with imagination. But no worries. I won't bore you with what kicks up my fancy. I'll likely be no more right than most. Then again, maybe I'll hit a few nails on the head.

In any case, 

Happy New Year!