Unfortunately, every year is a mixed bag of good and bad. Each year is characterised by its inevitable shock and awe, fortunes and misfortunes, blessings and curses, gains and losses, breakthroughs and hurdles, joys and pains, sunshine and rain, hope and despair.
Through it all let us not forget to appreciate the little mercies and grace we experience.
We should not be too preoccupied and obsessed by death, even if it is around us and among us and within us. Death is a fate awaiting all of us. We must live through every day and every second. Yes, we are not immune to being casualties and statistics of the Grim Reaper – death – and ill-health and handicap.
As William Shakespeare aptly observes in Julius Caesar: “Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste death but once; Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, it seems to me most strange that men should fear; seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come.”
Instead of a hideous long list of New Year’s resolutions, how about adopting the motto that notwithstanding anything that occurs and comes our way, we never stop living through it all. Let us not be embarrassed by our failures. Let us not allow hardships to break us spiritually. Let us learn from them and start all over again. Let us never, ever lose sight of the fact that success is the sum total of small efforts repeated day in and day out.
Yes, we are going to commit mistakes in 2021, yes there will be glitches, disappointments, hiccups, accidents, treachery, spite, own goals and stupid moments. But that is life: warts and all! Let us live meaningfully through every second of 2021.
This is by no means a call for wanton abandonment, inconsiderate recklessness and avoidable irresponsibility. Let us not live and die only by philosophical and theoretical lofty words, but let us be practical and exemplary in implementation and action. Let us desist from bitterness, shallowness and vainglory.
Let us be bravely robust in restoring goodness, humility, integrity, kindness, honesty and sincerity in ourselves, our interactions, relationships, dealings, processes and institutions. Despite our caution and circumspection because of the Covid-19 pandemic, let us resolve to really live, even when we are asleep or in pain this year.
The Star