by Yitz Miller
I was enough of a science geek in high school to be fascinated by the reality that mathematically adding a circle a straight line makes a spiral.
With the cycle of the year, and the progression of our lives, a spiral seemed the obvious way to envision the trajectory of time.
The cycle of the year is an astronomical fact. Nomadic tribes tracked the cycle of the moon to know when there was the most light for traveling. Agricultural societies tracked the cycle of the Sun to know when it was time to plant and harvest.
But at some point it occurred to me…why did cultures “add a line to the circle”? Whether the Hebrew year (5786), Chinese year (4722), Buddhist year (2568) or…as we’re marking this week…the transition from the 2025th Christian year to the 2026th, why did we start counting years…thereby assigning a directionality to time?
Marking annual cycles is scientific reality; but I posit that giving those years directionality is a statement of belief…belief that there is a directionality to time…and, belief that there is a -positive- directionality to time.
That positive directionality is ultimately one of the most powerful faith statements that exists, because asserting a positive directionality to time reflects a belief that time is more than a never-ending cycle of circles. Rather, counting years asserts that there is meaning and purpose to our lives.
During my years as the NAACP’s NC State Public Policy Director, Rev. Dr. Pres. T Anthony Spearman ended every speech with the mantra: “Forward Together…Not One Step Back.” One reason it is a powerful mantra is because it taps into the assertion that forward is positive.
When people ask me what WickedAwesoneMan (or WickedAwesomeDad / Boyfriend / Husband) are about, I usually answer “it’s about…every single day…being a better man than we were in the day before.”
As each of us, as men, turns the page of the secular calendar this week, I offer the hopes that each of us—and all of us—will not only turn the page, but will turn it forward…that each year, and each day, finds us better men than we were the day—or year—that passed.
With blessings for 2026,
Yitz Miller
