AUSPICIOUS NEW YEAR

Dusk descends on the last day of the ninth year of the the millennium. My fridge holds crab legs, a delicacy rarely enjoyed in our household. And then there's black-eyed peas to go with the shellfish, for good luck. Nothing wrong with a little superstition, especially when it calls for good food.

I read today's date adds up to a Nine, a lofty high falutin' harbinger of great activities. And tomorrow? 1 + 1 + 2 + 10 = 14, or 5. Ah, there's the rub. In numerology, five stands for the human being, who comes in all colors, all values and all activities. AND it stands for the five-pointed star, almost universal symbol for Divine Knowledge/Light. Odd that one brings destruction (and joy and light), while the other brings pure understanding, "lights the way" so to speak.

Here we are living in an age when someone walks into a heavily secured military base and blows himself and eight others up. We step into the next decade full of promise, with unemployment, food banks becoming depleted and corporate executives receiving 5- or 6-figured "bonuses." How are we to embrace these extremes?

I believe the quick answer is to be gentle to yourself, kind to others and remember the sphere over which you have influence. We must protest injustice, arouse the sleeping materialists, educate the children and name the crimes; but above all, be kind. I never minded the label "peacenik." It reminds me of a mother I met once who proudly wore a diaper pin on her lapel. After 9 children and 19 years of diapers, she'd earned it. She received little recognition, and we peacekeepers receive less; but we keep on keepin' on. Our numbers are growing.

To those who have waded through my logic this somber evening, thanks. May your new decade be one of expansiveness to embrace all the change that's bound to come. May you be surrounded by kind friends, and may you be strong to share joy every day.