Opinion

New Year Sails

Yes, we’re off once again, this time into 2022, a year which surely featured in childhood TV programmes like “The Jetsons” and “Lost in Space”. I’ve never cared for the ritual New Year’s Eve countdown but every time, just seconds later, there comes a genuine buzz of expectation. Okay, sometimes it’s the unpredictable Vin Rouge/Crème Brûlée combo but, more often it’s the dawn breaking on another year holding, however briefly, the possibility of a better world. It's also the Chinese year of the Tiger. In this ancient system the animals revolve in a 12-year cycle and those born in a Tiger year not only have lucky numbers (1,3, and 4) but also lucky directions, (north, south, and east). Apparently, south-west is not too clever for them this year. A tricky one, that. I’m immune to anything remotely New Year horoscopy like this. I’m aware that it holds great cultural importance to millions of Chinese people but I struggle with its central idea. It must be the Sagittarius in me. To be fair, though, its credibility takes a pummelling when you know that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was born in 1964, a Dragon year. According to the ‘China Highlights’ website, these individuals symbolise “’nobleness and honour’, they are introverted, and their unlucky colour is blue. In 2022 they have a high possibility of being promoted.” Brace yourselves. Anyway, since this month is in fact named for the Roman god Janus, who faced both behind and ahead, let me pause this unhinged optimism for a moment as we exit one year and go barrelling into the next. A side note: years ago, I was invited to undergo a test designed to reveal which side of my brain is dominant. The left would indicate an aptitude for logic and strategic thinking, excellent for interpreting data, a key management function. This was, at the time, a significant, if soul-destroying, part of my job. It turned out I have the analytical skills of a wombat. I was far more interested in trying to understand people rather than numbers. Albert Einstein noted astutely that not everything we measure matters, and not everything which matters can be measured. Me and Al were as one on that. So, why is this relevant to a new year? Since you ask, it’s because my right-brain dominant, Janet-and-John worldview is endearingly simplistic in most other things too. Rather than focus on the empirical fact of leaving the past further behind with each passing year, I marvel instead at how much we actually bring along with us. Essentially, we’re bobbing along a meandering river in an overloaded canoe, (do keep up at the back). In the boat with us are our loved ones and behind them sits an enormous pile of, well, stuff. It’s everything we can’t do without: the myriad experiences, beliefs and memories we’ve accumulated along the way. Without these treasures, life is monochrome. If we’re fortunate, our pile grows each year (think of the immortal movie line “We’re going to need a bigger boat”). This highly personal cargo takes up a lot of the available space in our canoe but, crucially, when currents swirl and rapids threaten, it’s this ballast which steadies us. You can probably see now why I flunked the brain test. But I stand firm on this. There’s a great line (actually several) in the 1989 film, “Dead Poets Society”. Robin Williams, in his finest role, plays an English teacher at an elite private school, encouraging the boys to think for themselves. He tells them, “Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love - these are what we stay alive for.” Bravo, say I. At this very moment as I type, one of my couldn’t-be-without gems “Close to the Edge”, the 1972 album by Yes – is playing. It’s enriched my life for coming up to fifty years and I just cannot imagine living without such sublime music. There is plenty more, as you would guess, in the pile where that comes from. So, as we turn together onto a new stretch of the river, I’ll share a cracking piece of advice I was once given by someone of whom I was very fond. It urges us to navigate our own route and avoid being swayed by those whose judgement may differ from our own. And – even better –it’s French. Well, sort of . . . (it’s best said out loud quickly): “Pas d’elle yeux Rhône que nous”. In 2022 I wish you serene waters and a growing pile of treasures. Happy sailing.

Without these treasures, life is monochrome

Brian White lives in south Indre with his wife, too many moles and not enough guitars