A New Year’s Brand

Can anybody get excited about 2013?  It’s just not a pretty number.  Odd-numbered years roll in with a yawn – no Olympics, presidential elections or World Cups.  Odd years are the mortar between the even-numbered bricks.

I’m surprised I haven’t seen more chatter about fear of 13, aka triskaidekaphobia .  Maybe we’re just avoiding the discussion.

“Naturally, it’s 13. Why 13?”

“It comes after 12, hon.”

           – Marilyn Lovell (Kathleen Quinlan) and Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) in “Apollo 13.”

Every year has a brand.  Some years arrive amid great expectations: 1976, 1984, 2000.   Others just sit there like the quiet kid in class (name one big thing that happened in 1993).  .

What’ll we see in 2013?  A better economy?  Less red-blue divisiveness?  More time spent thinking about today’s opportunities instead of tomorrow’s problems?  I’m hopeful for all of that and more.  Even Apollo 13 was, in the words of Tom Hanks/Jim Lovell, “a successful failure.”  Unlucky Apollo 13 was very lucky.  

Let’s all make something special out of 13.