Start a Clean Slate New Year 2012 !

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So come the New Year, what is your resolution going to be?

 

THERE are traditionally four days in the year when this newspaper is not published. We call them press holidays.

Next Monday is the final press holiday for the year and so this is the final instalment of Monday Starters for 2011.

While men rely on the calendar to put some organisation and predictability into their lives, the truth of the matter is that events are not so easily demarcated.

In the natural flow of things, the 12-month calendar year has very little control over what actually happens.

The best-laid plans can go awry due to internal, external, natural and divine factors.

We can only live one day at a time, for we know not what tomorrow will bring.

To those who can cheerfully count down time at a public spot come Dec 31, there will be those in hospitals where the dates no longer matter, but every minute with loved ones is precious.

Do you know that you and I are blessed with the same 24 hours in a day? Work and sleep take up almost two-thirds of that, so what do you do with the remaining eight hours each day?



A wise man said that we should number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. It is good advice not only for those who actually have to number their days because of a critical illness (“I only got six months to live, so I am going to do every crazy thing possible”), but for everyone.

To number our days means we make every day count. We may be overwhelmed by work and other commitments, but it is always better to do the necessary things first so that we end each day with a clean slate. Saying thanks and sorry, for example, belongs to this category.

The last day of this calendar year will be special for me because my youngest son achieves his independence as he turns 21.

I have not figured out what present to get him but in the family tradition, he will register as a voter and make his vote count in the 13th general election.

My eldest son did the same when he turned 21 but has yet to vote because he was not of age for the March 2008 elections.

I believe it is important that we fully exercise our rights as citizens and be as socially-convicted and aware of the many public issues that affect us.

So come the New Year, what is your resolution going to be?

Will you show more faith, more hope and more love to the people around you? Will you make a difference and touch lives, be it in your workplace or your neighbourhood?

There is certainly room for revelry during the festive seasons, but maybe we should resolve to scale down our lifestyles and focus on what is good for the soul.

This is indeed the season for giving, but a more meaningful gift, and it’s free, would be to forgive.
May we reach out to those who have hurt us and those whom we may have hurt, and start the year afresh.

● Deputy executive editor Soo Ewe Jin wishes Christian readers a Blessed Christmas, and all readers a Wonderful New Year. He is especially happy to meet up with Sunny, a dear friend of his Papa, who shared fond memories of his father and reminds him that the real legacy of anyone is not in the things he leaves behind but in the many lives he touched.