In a matter of hours from now, Nigeria and other countries within the same time zone will be agog. There will be shouting euphorias and drinking sprees. The sky will be lit by fireworks, and the prevailing peace of the graveyard will be disrupted with the sounds of exploding firecrackers.

It is a ritual so predictable and time-specific that one can set one’s watch by it. The only difference this time will be the reduction in people’s firepower occasioned by the battered economy. It would be foolhardy for hungry people to spend their money on ‘fireworks and explosive entertainments’.

While crossover has become a ritual amongst Christians in Nigeria, one source traces its origin to December 31, 1862 when Blacks all over America congregated in churches and private homes, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the date set by the Emancipation Proclamation as the beginning of freedom for all slaves.

So, as the hands of the clock struck midnight to usher in January 1, 1863, Blacks all over America broke into dances, prayer and thanksgiving to God for setting them free.

By midnight today, a significant portion of the world will transit from 2024 to 2025. But thinking about it critically: is there anything really new about the new day or year? Will the sun take on a new colour, or rise from the North and set in the South?

We need to understand that labelling of times as days, weeks, months and years are only artificial demarcations invented by men for the purpose of documentation and regulation.

While we wildly jubilate and congratulate one another for crossing over that imaginary line, thinking philosophically about it too can help us to be more realistic in our expectations in the so-called new year. Except one had invested in projects that will bear fruits in the new year, the baseless, recurring belief that a new year is ‘our year of breakthrough’, at best, remains what it is — superstition.

Intrinsically, there is nothing in what men label as new year that aids or deters success. It is mainly ourselves and the type of leadership we enthrone or tolerate in the country where we live, work and or do business that determines our successes or failures.

To be certain, outliving December 31 does not confer longevity or any special advantage on anyone. About 150, 000 people die everyday in the world from various causes; that number of people that crossed over from December 31 may still die on January 1, 2025.

After all, all the previous ‘new’ years were similarly declared by religious leaders as ‘our year of breakthrough’, but many of us did not break through. Instead of abdicating our responsibilities to spirits, let’s resolve in 2025 to learn to have reasonable faith in God, work hard, work smart and be good people, for therein lies the secret of true success.(Vanguard Editorial)