Do Decades Matter?
Why can’t I get sentimental about the last full moon of the decade? And what’s all this crap about “roaring” all about?
Earlier this week, it seemed like everyone on the internet was abuzz about the fact that the LAST FULL MOON OF THE DECADE WAS HAPPENING AT 12:12 AM (EST) ON 12/12.
Sure, it was curious, I guess, but I couldn’t really make myself get excited about it — and it took a little while before I was really able to figure out why.
I mean, the whole 12:12 on 12/12 thing is kind of a cute coincidence but I’ve never really been able to get off on date/time palindromes or repeating numbers or whatever the hell else. Those things happen, and while I often seem to find significance absolutely everywhere, I can’t for the life of me imagine that these things actually mean anything. What could they mean? And yes, nobody’s directly suggesting that they mean something, but that arouses my suspicions all the more! I don’t see how it’s interesting enough on its own.
That’s not it, though.
Moving past the numbers thing, I realized it’s actually the decade thing that has me all blocked up. We’re moving from the 2010s to the 2020s and I feel absolutely nothing. I feel things about lots of things that might be called insignificant, and yet we’ve got a full-on decade changeover and I’m totally numb to it. Might this be an indicator of some sort of larger depression issue?
Not on your life. In fact, I don’t recall giving a shit when 2009 turned into 2010. I cared a little bit when 1999 turned into 2000 but I mean come on, that’s a millennium! Plus I was 15 and hoped Y2K would send the world into chaos. (I was disappointed but I mean, I only had to wait a few more years before the chaos started and I realized not-chaos might actually be preferable.)
This leaves me still a bit unsure as to the cause of my indifference here. It’s not even like I don’t “believe” in decades; that is to say, it’s not even like I don’t believe a decade can be defined by a certain mood, event, or style. Of course it can. Maybe, then, it simply bothers me that I believe events can be defined but that I don’t personally know how to define either the 2010s or the 2000s. What were they all about? I can tell you what the 90s were all about. Then everything’s been a batty clusterfuck ever since. And, well, perhaps that’s the definition right there — the decades of transitory flux, taking us from that place where we were to…wherever the hell we’re going.
I’m not sure we’re quite going to arrive in this upcoming decade, either. We’ll see.
Even with all this being the case, however, shouldn’t I feel something about the passing of this 10-year period? After all, you could argue that practically my whole life has happened since 2010. I’ve been married twice, divorced once, had three kids. About a quarter of the way through the decade I spent the better part of a year (against my will) transitioning from my first career to my second. Just before that, I started the Wizard of Monadnock, which led to Monadnock Underground and so many other things. I settled in Peterborough, the only place I’ve called home since leaving my hometown (nearly) two decades ago.
I mean, what the hell. That’s a lot, right? I could keep going — there’s more. Lots more.
It’s really not like me to not be super sentimental about this. I wanted to write a little rant about how decades don’t mean anything and they’re as stupid a means to describe the passage of time as “generations” are. But I don’t really believe that. Looking at time in decades might not be precise, but I think it works pretty well most of the time.
Maybe I’m just a little fried. Maybe, on the other hand…maybe it’s all a bit too large and too significant, and I just can’t really look at it just now. Or maybe I’m starting the process, this very instant, but that it will take a good while to really absorb the blow and the ripples that follow.
Maybe I feel like I can’t possibly do this past decade justice in the two weeks that yet remain.
Maybe I’m feeling no small measure of trepidation as we head into this next decade, the nature of which I shudder to predict, not because I think it will be straight-up hellish but because things are changing so quickly that I wouldn’t dare try to tell you what the shit things are gonna look like when we come out the other side at this time in 2029. 2029. You know what I mean — it’s impossibly distant, isn’t it?
Yet, while we wrestle with such things, the years — and the full moons — crank on.
There’s also a rush to celebrate the fact that it is, or will be, or might be, once again, “the roaring 20s”. I keep asking people to explain to me what they think made the previous roaring 20s so awesome, but nobody can offer much beyond a certain vibe they imagine that decade to have had. For obvious reasons, I strongly suspect that vibe might exist more in legend than in history.
But okay, cool vibe. Loose dresses and cool bracelets, not super cool haircuts, good hats, and dancing like you’re having a seizure (in a mansion with the Great Gatsby, because that is how everyone lived in those days). Grand. Do you think, however, that we seem to be headed for a time like that?
I’m not so sure.
But if it is to be so, allow me to suggest one thing: it will only be so if a totally different group of people starts up doing the roaring — and if we can actually agree to allow roaring, which is, deep down, not a very popular idea right now.
It’s possible. I’m just not so sure.
But maybe it would be nice. Maybe it is roaring that we need.
There’s more to be said on this subject.
These musings seem awfully tense, and part of me feels as tense as I sound, but that’s not the full story. Don’t imagine for one moment that I’m not enjoying the shit out of this Advent season if only by sheer force of will.
It’s part of my job as Wizard. Actually, I think it is part of everyone’s job as a person. I hadn’t thought of it quite this way before, but I actually believe this: we have an obligation to enjoy our lives. We’ve been given an incredible gift in being here, one that — in my view — does not require much from us, but we are required to show our gratitude and to do so through enjoyment.
This weekend, I’ll put this into practice by hosting a large annual party, one of my favorite moments of the year. There’s a special holiday Vespers service next week during which we will hear ancient holiday-inspired chanting by candlelight. Next weekend is the Solstice Concert at PUUC and the next night a bunch of us are going down to Cambridge to see the Christmas Revels, another thing to get me choked up with tears and meaning and love of life and family and the world.
If you don’t have your own ways of marking this season that bring joy and enjoyment, you should. I made a joke on Facebook a few weeks ago that if you hate this season you’re doing it wrong and I can help with consultancy services at $50 a pop. I was sort of kidding, but not really — except the truth is I’m willing to do it for free. If you’re really wondering how you can make more of this season, if not for this rapidly waning year but for next, hit me up directly. I really can help.