Elijah asks Grandpa about New Year’s and murder
Grandpa, what’s “murder”?
Oh, my, Elijah, why are you asking about murder on New Year’s Eve? What brought that up?
Marissa, my baby-sitter did. Okay, Grandpa, forget that. What’s a year?
Well, a year is 12 months.
So I’ll be a year older tomorrow?
No. You’re only seven-and-a-half months old.
But tomorrow’s a new year, so I’ll be a year older, right?
No. You can’t be a year older when you’re not yet one year old. You’ll be one year-old on your birthday in four-and-a-half months. Then, a year from your first birthday, you’ll be able to say you’re a year older.
Sometimes you’re really confusing Grandpa! I ask two simple questions and I’m more confused than before I asked you. So the New Year is only for old folks?
No, it’s for everyone. It just doesn’t have anything to do with being a year older unless you’re already a year old and were born on January 1. But New Year’s isn’t about your birthday. You were born in May.
Okay. So what’s a “new year”? And what’s an old year? Is it like you and me?
It’s not like us, Elijah. It’s different. New Year’s is about hope. It happens every January first, the first day of the new year on the calendar, another 12 months, another 365 days like we’ve never known before. New Year’s is a fresh start! The old year is finished.
No it’s not, Grandpa. What about murder?
This is sounding like a circular argument, Elijah. Somehow you’ve brought us full circle to murder?
Yeah, ‘cause everything got murdered in 2017!
No it didn’t Elijah! You were born in 2017! That’s the opposite of murder. That’s new birth. That’s hope and joy. You’ve brought me joy and hope this last eight months and I hope we have lots of years to talk like this before Grandpa buys the farm.
You’re buying a farm? We already have a cabin. When are you buying the farm?
It’s just an expression, Elijah. “Buying the farm” is a way of talking about death. When you’ve bought the farm, you’re dead.
What’s dead, Grandpa?
It’s like all the stuff that got murdered in 2017 — things like truth — and there’ll be a lot more murders in 2018. But hope springs eternal.
Yeah! I hope you and truth don’t buy a farm in 2018! Happy New Year, Grandpa!
- Grandpa Gordon, Chaska, MN, December 31, 2017 (the year of murder)
Views from the Edge 
Horse are all one year older on New Year’s Day. Let’s do that for people, too. Every year, we have a Human Species birthday and we ALL celebrate. No gifts required … just a gigantic, planetary party. I’ll bring chili!
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This is new information for me, Marilyn, although I’ve known for years people who were horse’s asses. Good idea! Bring on the chili!
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All horses born in the southern hemisphere celebrate their birthday on August 1 as a means of standardizing horse-related (mostly sporting) events. This date is based on the breeding season of horses, so horses born in the northern hemisphere celebrate their birthday on January 1
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Something new every day. 🥃
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In case you decide to give up writing and breed horses.
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No money. Just a pen and keyboard, Marilyn. Keep writing. Keep writing. Keep writing. Remember and counter DJT’s summary of the greatest Book he’s [n]ever read: “an eye for an eye”.
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I’m not sure he can read at all.
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“Dumbest student I’ve ever had,” according to Univ. of Pennsylvania. DJT keeps saying he went to the Wharton School. He didn’t. The Wharton School is a graduate school of Penn. Its graduates have an MBA. DJT holds a B.A. from Penn. He never went to Wharton. It’s a faux fact.
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Dumbest student seems just about on target. I would have been REALLY surprised to hear otherwise.
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And biggest liar.
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OMG, Elijah is gorgeous — yes, it’s OK for a boy to be gorgeous. And your words are a hopeful delight too.
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Mona, Elijah is as you say. What a delight he is!
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You mustn’t buy the farm any time soon. We need you, and your conversations with Elijah. They are a balm to the soul, never cutesy, always honest and, in spite of everything, hopeful.
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Thank you, Barb. We all do our best not to buy the farm before it’s time and to sow the seeds of hope along the un-paved paths better suited to what Wendell Berry calls “the path-walkers.” Thanks for the encouragement. Best two you, CA, and Puck for a quiet New Year’s Eve. May turn on a little Arvo Part to usher in 2018.
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