Don't Drop the Ball, For Luck's Sake

Once upon a time people sent things up instead of down: fire works, flags, bullets, and what not. It makes good sense when you want things to look up in the New Year. I want to know who decided to drop the ball in the New Year? Dropping the ball? Come on! Did they even think about the implication? “Let’s drop the ball, the biggest ball we can find, onto Time Square to signal in the New Year!” Everybody in the country collectively dropping the ball is the first act of the New Year; and may they all keep dropping the ball for the rest of the year. This used to be confined to the United States but it has been spreading. Balls are dropped everywhere now, even in China. They dropped a clock over there at Zhuhai with fire shooting out of it when the clock struck, so to speak. Is there an end to these bad omens? First the ball is drop, then time itself explodes, will India try to outdo China by, say, blowing up a giant globe? I am afraid, very afraid. Whoever came up with the idea should put him or herself under the ball when it drops next.