What can December be?
Bongi D D M Radipati | Tuesday December 9, 2025 08:17
Thereafter, one may then be inclined to look around from their vaunted point or special perch, while gazing at everybody else who may have their heads looking up to the sky wondering if they too could be as lucky as that one. Because gratitude seems to be an appropriate response in these circumstances, quietly and without even their lips moving, one is likely to thank somebody (God, their family, their supporters, etc) or something (the universe, nature, fortitude, preparation, etc) because one is genuinely grateful. This show or expression of gratitude serves as a moral safeguard against the reprehensible offense of ingratitude. One may also show or express gratitude because doing so is a guarantee for another fortune hopefully in the new year that is about to begin.
It was my birthday in June. As usual, a long term friend called me from overseas to wish me well and to remind me to keep my bargain with him that I will continue to do that which I love - reading and writing - even as I inched toward old age on each of my birthdays.
In response, I too reminded him of his looming 80th birthday in the early days of January 2026. Impulsively, I asked him how he felt about December, which is always a prelude to his own birthday. He said to me something that has preoccupied my mind since then. To him, December is a time for beginning and not a time for ending. Perplexed, I asked him how that can be given that invariably many of us tend to regard December with foreboding and stress: the shopping frenzy, the self-indulgent extravagance, the pressures of office parties and year-end goals against how the year is ending yet we have little or nothing to show for it? How, it is in December that we realise that our deadlines have not been met, our resolutions remain unfulfilled, our visits and trips remain unmet, our books lie unread, our unachieved grand plans are again shoved to the new year, etc? In response to my query, he cautioned me as only one who has lived long enough to know something about life would, that although it is common, it is unnecessary for us to worry over time as long as we had used it to make life more meaningful, more bearable and more memorable for ourselves and those closest to us. How about we adopt his mindset, not because it is the smartest, but simply because it appears to liberate and empower us at a time when our heads are giddy with anxiety and excitement?
What if December could be something else, and not a self-imposed finish line for things some of which we may never attain? What if December was not an arbitrary deadline for our lifetime plans and goals? What if we regarded December as a beginning as it is season-wise? By the way, December is derived from the Latin term “decem” which means ten (10). In the Roman calendar which is attributed to emperor Romulus, the year began in March; there were only 10 months in it; and a long unaccounted period of winter. December was thus the 10th and last month of the year. In the Gregorian calendar, named for pope Gregory XIII, effective from 1582, and used virtually everywhere since then, December is the 12th month of the year although it still retains its Latin 10th roots. Season-wise, December is widely associated with the winter season in the northern hemisphere and the summer season in the southern hemisphere where Botswana is. December also contains the winter solstice for the northern hemisphere and the summer solstice for the southern hemisphere, which, respectively, is around December 21-22. Interestingly, this day marks the shortest day for the northern hemisphere and the longest day for the southern hemisphere.
I like what everybody else likes about December. I like it as the period of global relaxation; the density of professional and personal activities around it; the ambitions nursed in it; and the energy and stride that exemplify the month. I also like how December tends to prompt almost every one of us to fully embrace the optimism for the future while minimising the difficulty of success in a way that few times ever can. Nonetheless, we have elevated December to a time that appears overly concerned with itself rather than with the feeling and individual actualization we should expect it to evoke. The idea of December (as for every other month) is easy to grasp. It should be a month in the life of individuals. Yet we have made it the month in the life of individuals. Other than our typical harsh self-assessment which is easily followed by self- flagellation, and some wild merry-making and light-hearted reverence, all of which are done in December, it is hard to discern what the month really is to us and what we seek to gain from it. So, December disempowers us because we have disempowered ourselves. This makes it a unique time in interesting ways as it succeeds, by being a special month (thanks to us!), only insofar as we fail to liberate and empower ourselves in it.
Culturally, December is a period of holidays, celebrations and reflections. It is in this cauldron of activities and feelings that we tend to wonder about the insufficiency of our accomplishments and achievements. But it need not be.
In December, most of us could do more than just be involved in self-assessment and revelry. During it, we could use the family get together, the shared meals, the long interactions, the downtime, and the merrymaking to initiate, forge, and strengthen relationships with others.
These could be relationships that will last us a lifetime and that can easily shape our personal journeys as much as our professional and creative ones. We could, for good measure, then mark and celebrate those relationships even as we deepen them every December. We could use the rituals of December and the emotions we harbour during it to improve ourselves and thus to be a benefit to those nearest us. In short, December can and should be something else other than what we typically make of it.
It need not be an inexorable slide into despair and wild but short-lived excitement. It ought to be a time when we regain our stride for the new year. It needs to be a month when we reflect on our sense of worth and purpose. And it should be a time when we celebrate another year gone by with breath still in our nostrils.
*Radipati is a Mmegi contributor