Why Try to Find a Party in Every Country in the World?

New Years Eve is the biggest, the best and most unifying festival in the world.

This year we really, really need it.

From the events of 2006, you'd think we were still living in the Middle Ages, unable to see beyond our own religious books or national flags. So many people seem to act as if they had nothing in common and nothing to share or celebrate with their fellow humans.

The simple truth is that New Years Eve is the only time when the whole world can celebrate together.

Easter and Christmas are solely for Christians. Ramadan and the Hajj are celebrated only by Muslisms. Yom Kippur by the Jews, Diwali by Hindus and Baisakhi by the Sikhs. You get the picture. Religious holidays of the world are a time to emphasis differences, not what unites us.

Even when you look at the the major non-religious holidays, very few of them have any international resonance. The largest holidays in many countries are their own Independence Days. Other popular celebrations remember victories in war or great men of that nation. We can probably count Halloween as the second largest secular holiday. Its celebrated in Europe and North America but covers little of the world beyond.

New Years Eve is the one day of the year when everyone in the world can justifiably celebrate regardless of who or where they are.

Its true - New Years is celebrated at different times of the year all over the world. New Years Day will fall on January 20 for Muslims, February 18 for the Chinese and on March 14 for Sikhs. Its also true that it won't be 2006 for many parts of the world. 4075 in China, 539 for Sikhs, and the 19th year of the Emperor Heisei for the Japanese to give just a few examples.

That being said, the principals behind celebrating the start of a New Year are so simple and universal that the particular day is not that important:

New Years stands for putting the screwed-up events of the past year behind us.
New Years stands for leaving grudges in the past.
New Years stands for hoping for better next year.

This year we need New Years.

Lets celebrate together. Lets find a party in every single country on Earth. From Rio de Janiero to Sydney, from Baghdad to Tokyo, from Greenland to Tasmania - lets party worldwide.