Closing The Curtains On 2014
Another eventful year comes to a close and the new one is already upon us. Life continues to bewilder us with its myriad colors and hues. The feast is done and devoured and only the crumbs remain as an evidence of the celebration that has been.
As the lights dim and the glow of the embers in the fireplace die off slowly, it is time to contemplate and reflect on the year past.
Close your eyes and imagine a backpack that allows you to save and carry limited memories and achievements from the year. You pick each moment and achievement that are most important to you and stack them within one by one.
- The vacations, the outings and celebrations
- Sounds / words and gestures of your little ones
- Laughter, warm hugs, kisses and cuddles
- Fleeting, stolen romantic moments
- Achievements born out of your mind and spirit
- Little things that turned out to be bigger
- Painful blows that found your resilience
So collect the key moments that sum up your life that you would want to re-live for the one last time when your journey of life on the planet reaches its peaceful end; the time when you are struggling to keep the next breath coming.
That's not the time for the unimportant things; you only get to re-live the memories that made your journey worth every moment that you lived - In Pain and In Glory.
The betrayals, setbacks, tumbles... all pale in significance to a lifetime. While you can't change them, you have grown up finally to be able to detach yourself and walk away from them. Even that is a step forward. There are things that you had to let go of as you can't get attached to things and places, if you want to get somewhere. It was difficult, but it had to be done.
As for the world, we saw events unfurl that's bound to leave lasting impressions and redefine the world and times that we live in. 2014 saw violence and death;
The Plane Crashes of Ukraine, Malaysia and Indonesia, Killing of innocent school children in Pakistan by the Taliban, Invasion of Ukraine, Ethnic Cleansing of Yezidis by ISIS, Conflict between Israel - Palestine provoked by the killing of 3 Israeli teenagers and the EBOLA Scare which still continues.
The violence continues unabated into 2015 with the assassination of the 11 French Journalists by Islamic Terrorists.
In the midst of mayhem we saw shoots of human aspiration emerge from beneath the ashes on the ground. Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh, Narendra Modi in India and Shinzo Abe in Japan won the elections comfortably thereby re-affirming the commitment of the Asian countries towards progress and peace. The Palestinians were pounded, the ISIS will be eliminated too and the Taliban Leader who planned the killing of the school kids has been killed.
The productive world has made an emphatic statement;
-- that we shall extract a huge price from the perpetrators of violence and oppression of any kind
-- that we shall not allow ourselves to be dragged down into the depravity of the Barbarians
-- that the liberty to choose Rational Thought and Progress over Fanaticism and Violence shall reign supreme and shall not be hijacked by Religion or by God
-- and that we shall not feel guilty of; seeking a lifestyle of personal choice or the pursuit of material comforts or seeking pleasure in the things that we observe or experience.
On a personal level the year 2014 has seen the achievement of all targets set earlier during the year. The goals for the next year will be to; Light the sparks, build the skills and continue to challenge the Status-Quo.
A quote to end it -
“Joy is the goal of existence, and joy is not to be stumbled upon, but to be achieved, and the act of treason is to let its vision drown in the swamp of the moment's torture.”
― Ayn Rand
As the lights dim and the glow of the embers in the fireplace die off slowly, it is time to contemplate and reflect on the year past.
Close your eyes and imagine a backpack that allows you to save and carry limited memories and achievements from the year. You pick each moment and achievement that are most important to you and stack them within one by one.
- The vacations, the outings and celebrations
- Sounds / words and gestures of your little ones
- Laughter, warm hugs, kisses and cuddles
- Fleeting, stolen romantic moments
- Achievements born out of your mind and spirit
- Little things that turned out to be bigger
- Painful blows that found your resilience
So collect the key moments that sum up your life that you would want to re-live for the one last time when your journey of life on the planet reaches its peaceful end; the time when you are struggling to keep the next breath coming.
That's not the time for the unimportant things; you only get to re-live the memories that made your journey worth every moment that you lived - In Pain and In Glory.
The betrayals, setbacks, tumbles... all pale in significance to a lifetime. While you can't change them, you have grown up finally to be able to detach yourself and walk away from them. Even that is a step forward. There are things that you had to let go of as you can't get attached to things and places, if you want to get somewhere. It was difficult, but it had to be done.
As for the world, we saw events unfurl that's bound to leave lasting impressions and redefine the world and times that we live in. 2014 saw violence and death;
The Plane Crashes of Ukraine, Malaysia and Indonesia, Killing of innocent school children in Pakistan by the Taliban, Invasion of Ukraine, Ethnic Cleansing of Yezidis by ISIS, Conflict between Israel - Palestine provoked by the killing of 3 Israeli teenagers and the EBOLA Scare which still continues.
The violence continues unabated into 2015 with the assassination of the 11 French Journalists by Islamic Terrorists.
In the midst of mayhem we saw shoots of human aspiration emerge from beneath the ashes on the ground. Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh, Narendra Modi in India and Shinzo Abe in Japan won the elections comfortably thereby re-affirming the commitment of the Asian countries towards progress and peace. The Palestinians were pounded, the ISIS will be eliminated too and the Taliban Leader who planned the killing of the school kids has been killed.
The productive world has made an emphatic statement;
-- that we shall extract a huge price from the perpetrators of violence and oppression of any kind
-- that we shall not allow ourselves to be dragged down into the depravity of the Barbarians
-- that the liberty to choose Rational Thought and Progress over Fanaticism and Violence shall reign supreme and shall not be hijacked by Religion or by God
-- and that we shall not feel guilty of; seeking a lifestyle of personal choice or the pursuit of material comforts or seeking pleasure in the things that we observe or experience.
On a personal level the year 2014 has seen the achievement of all targets set earlier during the year. The goals for the next year will be to; Light the sparks, build the skills and continue to challenge the Status-Quo.
A quote to end it -
“Joy is the goal of existence, and joy is not to be stumbled upon, but to be achieved, and the act of treason is to let its vision drown in the swamp of the moment's torture.”
― Ayn Rand
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