Semi-Stillness

The day after Christmas always seems to be a bit of a letdown - even though I don’t really celebrate it. There is a certain crescendo in the air that leads up to Christmas, then the darkness, the stillness of the day itself. It is like the day after a funeral - when those left behind begin to halfheartedly resume their lives. They know that they have to do it - that they have to pick themselves up by the bootstraps - but they are overwhelmed by a blanket of malaise. Like a thick, heavy snowfall.

The day after always seems so empty - cities half-full, people half-into what they need to be doing, and no “big bang” to look forward to. Instead, it is sort of a week of idling - can’t really work because there isn’t much to do, can’t really play because there is no one to play with. Just an empty semi-stillness.

In the snow, the stillness seems to have another reason - a blanket of cold and white covering the earth. But here, there is no snow.

I took a drive through a large swath of Los Angeles today - all on the local roads, not the freeways. It, too, was filled with the stillness. But why? In mid-day Los Angeles, with the sun shining and the sky blue, there seems little good reason for the stillness. It is like the entire town is on valium.

The new year beckons, but even this one will be a bit weird. When New Years’ is close to the weekend - Thursday or Friday - the weekend becomes a long party which eventually ends. However, when it is on a Tuesday, like this year, people will be dragging through their hangovers at their various tasks throughout the week.

But in another week or so, the slumber will begin to end. Whether up or down, the year will start, people will get back to their lives, and the machine will keep on turning. Like it always does.