As I write this it is New Year’s Eve. Being an early to bed kind of guru, I chose to watch everyone else’s new year’s countdowns and fireworks from all the countries that came before the US tonight. I watched celebrations in Moscow, Berlin, London, Beijing, Sydney, Mumbai, and others. Each had a flavor of their culture, and each had nice fireworks (although Sydney really took the top prize on that!). What was more interesting, were the people. In many of the videos I found, you could see the people celebrating. Some would even talk to the cameras. It was a great opportunity to read them. Here is what I felt.
Each city had an overall cultural feeling coming from the people (not just the fireworks). For example, people in Sydney felt easy going, while people in London felt excited but reserved. You get the idea. The stamp of their culture was there. But there was something more, and it was common to 90% of everyone in attendance at these celebrations. They were not celebrating the new year nearly as much as they were celebrating life itself, possibility and another chance. That should not be so shocking. It is what I feel too. Each year feels like the start of another lap where I have the chance to top old records and see what amazing fun I can get into. But even if your last year was not so great, it’s another chance. It’s a clean slate.
The feel from the crowd was that they were largely taking all their baggage with them into the new year, but had so much hope for good things to come.
