Proposed 2015 Calendar of the Seven Deadly Sins

Around the year-end holidays, consumers purchase calendars. Some of them feature popular travel destinations. Some showcase either domesticated or wild animals. Certain others flaunt the bodies of domesticated or wild humans. The calendars from non-profit enterprises tend to be dull commercials for their worthy activities.

However, I propose a new product for 2015 calendars: the Seven Deadly Sins. Here's a list of these universal vices:

• avarice
• envy
• sloth
• pride/vanity
• wrath
• lust
• gluttony

The Seven Deadly Sins and Four Other Things
by Hieronymus Bosch

Selected months or days would be associated with a particular deadly sin. My list is hardly thorough, but it's a start.

Avarice -- December. That's the bonus month for many firms, including some hedge funds, Wall Street banks, and private equity firms. Second place goes to the United States Congress. Images of individual members or a team shot are available for all 12 months of the year.

Envy -- Pick any repellent celebrity gossip television program, magazine, blog, or book for the usual and unusual suspects. Again, this delivers 12-month pleasure.

Sloth -- Summer months seem best suited for this vice. Local television newscasters provide ample subjects for this underrated vice.

Pride/Vanity -- The Academy Awards are made to order for the calendar's thematic concept. That takes care of March, when the Oscars are shown to a worldwide audience.

Wrath -- This is best associated with birthdays. Former vice president Dick Cheney, for example, celebrates his birthday on January 30th. New Jersey governor Chris Christie blows away birthday candles on September 6th.

Lust -- Bill Clinton has his birthday candles blown on August 19th. Former president Jimmy Carter, who once acknowledged having lust in his heart, will clebrate his 90th birthday on October 1st. And who could let a year pass without acknowledging Charlie Sheen's contribution to vice?

Gluttony -- Feel free to double down on Chris Christie's sins, thanks to his evidently excessive interest in food and drink. Also, movie director and XXXL fellow New Jersey native Kevin Smith receives "honorable" mention for his well-publicized hassling of Southwest Airlines in 2010 for its "Customer of Size" policy.

The beauty of the Seven Deadly Sins calendar is that each month brings a new, worthy member of vice's poster children to one's attention. Now that's much more fun than associating photographs of penguins or pinup models with a specific month!

The Seven Deadly Sins
by Pieter Bruegel the Elder