Today is a day that hasn’t happened in a century. In a rare cosmic and cultural coincidence, Fat Tuesday, Lunar New Year, and the start of Ramadan have all landed on the same 24-hour stretch.
At first glance, these traditions seem worlds apart – beads and king cakes, red envelopes and dragon dances, the pre-dawn meal and the quiet of prayer. But beneath the surface, three billion people are currently vibrating on the same frequency.
As the great Maya Angelou famously said, “We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”
Not a “Clean Slate” – A Collective Breath
There is a lot of talk during these holidays about “starting fresh” or “erasing the past.” But the past doesn’t just disappear. It’s in our muscles, our memories, and our maps.
We shouldn’t want to forget the past. If we forget where we’ve been, we lose the lessons we paid for in pain. We risk repeating the same cycles. These three holidays aren’t about amnesia; they are about dusting ourselves off.
- Fat Tuesday is the feast before the fast – acknowledging the human need for joy before we face the hard work of reflection.
- Lunar New Year is the literal act of sweeping out the old – not to pretend the dust wasn’t there, but to make sure it doesn’t settle and bury us.
- Ramadan is the discipline of the spirit – a month to recalibrate the soul and remember who we are when the noise of the world is stripped away.
The Power of the Pivot
Today isn’t about drawing a line in the sand and leaving your history behind. It’s about carrying your history differently. We are all – regardless of our faith or heritage – standing up at the exact same time to say: “I have been through it. I have the dust of the road on my clothes. But I am still here, and I am moving forward.”
When we see these three massive traditions align, it’s a reminder that the desire to improve, to heal, and to persevere is a universal human constant. We aren’t alone in our struggle, and we aren’t alone in our resilience.
Moving Forward Together
The “dust” of the past might stay with us, but it doesn’t have to define our direction. Today, let’s honor the stories that brought us here – the hard ones and the triumphant ones alike.
We aren’t starting over. We are starting stronger, with our eyes wide open and our community by our side.
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I usually pray every morning that’s my habit.
I pray that I be the president one day.
I pray because I think that collective thought does a lot somehow
Still I Rise
By Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.