The advent of the New Year has always been a time for change and new beginnings. Before the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, people make some resolutions. Resolutions come in various forms. Some are practical. Others are nearly impossible to achieve. Whatever form they take, the goal is universally the same: to correct certain past mistakes and improve our lives.
For me, instead of making resolutions, I try to draw certain lessons or insights from the myriad of events – natural as well as man-made – that happened the previous year.
In this article, I decided to deviate from my usual practice of doing a year-end review of the various events that I considered earth-shaking like typhoon Yolanda, Mandela’s death, etc. Instead, for a change, I selected certain quotes from Facebook that my friends have posted during the past year that I found to be insightful. Reading them offers different perspectives on how life and other facets of living should be viewed. And this I find enlightening.
Here goes:
The ‘Sound of Silence’ means differently to different people. But as the class pointed out last Thursday, the usual meanings revolve around indifference to social issues and even suppression of dissent. My personal take has been ALIENATION or how modernity and commercialism have made people cynical, insulating them from the simple joys of loving and living. “People talking without speaking/People hearing without listening” has been a classic indictment against mediocrity, against the majority’s tendencies to “bow and pray to (its) neon god.” As it was nearly 50 years ago, the wisdom of Simon and Garfunkel’s poetry reverberates to this day (Nikki G.).
Life may be hard and difficult. It may be short. But it’s beautiful and colorful as well. Let’s love one another as equals in the eyes of God (Ernie V.).
Amid all our success, this year proved to be challenging for our nation. Many have lost their homes, livelihoods, and loved ones during the series of disasters, both man-made and natural, that hit the archipelago. Yet we have proven time and again that the Filipino does not yield to hardship. We have risen and continue to do so until we recover and achieve the progress we seek (Leni R.).
If there is anything better than sharing the best of what you have, it’s showing the best of who you are (Cynthia A.).
A new year…a new set of challenges, a bend in the road when we know what awaits us, a fork in the road that leaves us confused, nights so black that only faith will guide us, sunrises that blind us in their brilliance, rainbows, howling winds, stormy seas…no matter what the circumstance, we might do well to remember (Juliet C.).
The ‘margin of error’ between husband and wife is very, very slim (Rolly B.).
Our parish priest is constructing an impressive Church edifice worth millions of pesos somewhere in the Cupang-Alabang area of Muntinlupa, while thousands of informal settlers and slum dwellers outside the gated villages of the parish remain mired in poverty (Nilo E.).
Dolphins protect the helpless in times of danger. Let’s do our share and protect them as they’re helpless when they‘re killed by humans. Love begets love (Aleta G.).
We’re at sea now. I am still trying to cope with the loss of our eldest sister. It went quite fast and it really hurt so much, as I was still hoping for some miracles. Anyway, we have to move on (Celeste M.).
The Catholic Church has given a good fight. But it cannot turn back progress. The Church’s purity (the euphemism for rigidity or dogmatism) is the very source of its weakness…and eventual defeat (Men S.).
I love and have fondness for old friends…I reached 50 in the 2000s and perhaps reached my peak of what I can ever be. Since then I stopped being very hopeful that the New Year will be better than the last. But I always wonder what it will bring. Good or Bad I will accept it and continue enjoying each passing day and waking up refreshed by not expecting too much (Jose O.).
May 2014 make us better persons for others. May we welcome and accept the challenges in store for us. And we may never lose our sense of humor and adventure. Life is always good (Tata S.).
May the sun shine in everyone’s home. May the rainbow shelter us from disappointments. May the wind sweep away our pain. And may the rain shower us with abundant blessings and good health.
Happy 2014!