Editorial Comment 1/5/2021: Time Is The Only True Unit

From the movie “Lucy,” 2014, : “Time is the only true unit of measure. It gives proof to the existence of matter. “

So when folks are inclined to be sage and instruct me that New Year’s Day is simply a convention, a calendar heading that has yet to be filled with real data… I, in turn, think of how we mark the anniversaries of those whom we love, including of course their dates of birth and of death. 

An old friend, describing herself as an alcoholic, died this past weekend; of the laryngeal and pulmonary cancers caused by her tobacco usage which was in service, in turn,  to her alcohol use.  A linear progression, points of data forming a line through her particular calendar, and then ending.  And now, for me, this New Year is the opportunity to spend some time in reverie, trying to pull up recollections of those friends and family who have passed, on the way to this New Year’s Day; collecting data with which to fill this calendar page.

May you all thrive, prosper, survive for yet another calendar’s worth of days.

- Editor-in-Chief: Dr. William Haning, MD, DFAPA, DFASAM