December 31, 2021 - Here lies one of the most beautiful and powerful aspects of being human

With or without a pandemic there’s nothing like the end of a year, a time when a collective imagined reality comes to life with more fervor and lust than the ordinary day. Here is the end of a journey we’ve all agreed should cover three hundred and sixty five segments of twenty-four hours ––– one year. The pragmatists point out the arbitrary nature of our calendar and forego the nonsensical task of resolution-setting, why bother? Yet, here lies one of the most beautiful and powerful aspects of being human: the fact that the words we speak do not have to correspond with the emotions we feel; that we can dismiss the significance of a new year, while still feeling the burden of year’s worth of setbacks lift off of our shoulders; and that the hope of a new beginning can still live within us, regardless of whether we call-forth and welcome the new year’s arrival or not.


And for a city this same scenario remains true: the clocks and the calendars will turn, and although the intellect may see through the facade, the heart of a place, any place, will retain the ultimate last word. And for New York, what can we call 2021 other than a swing year ––– a slow and gradual journey back to what once was: an untouchable metropolis unafraid and unbothered by the threat of a deadly virus, one that would wreck its engine and total its body. If it was a gift to survive and live through 2020 at all, then 2021 offered, at least, a glimpse into what may come next. First a new president, and then with a vaccine, millions of masks were removed until a new variant named Delta arrived. For a while, the city fell into a new post-pandemic rhythm ––– vaccines were abound, and although masks were still around, the Delta had been tamed. And even if just barely –––– you could see it, and you could feel it: the city before the pandemic: crowds gathering without care for social-distancing and diners inside and out sitting knee-to-knee without the mention or thought of SARS Covid-19. Yet still, despite the Omicron’s arrival, that glimpse into a city recovered from the pandemic still remains, regardless of how faint.


This evening 2022 awaits at the door, and while there are other global cities –––– London, Paris, Tokyo, Los Angeles –––– that draw the world’s interest and attention, at least on New Year’s Eve, whether New Yorkers are proud of it or not, the world watches our city simply because we have Times Square, and a ball that drops to boot. The discerning mind can see through the fiction, of course, yet the heart, as always, will have the final say.