LIFE’S LESSONS
By Henrylito D. Tacio
“The merry year is born like the bright berry from the naked thorn,” penned Hartley Coleridge. Anne De Lencios contributes, “Today a new sun rises for me; everything lives, everything is animated, everything seems to speak to me of my passion, everything invites me to cherish it.”
Yes, it’s the time of the year to welcome a new one. As Charles Dickens puts it: “A Merry Christmas to everybody! A Happy New Year to all the world!” Edith Lovejoy Pierce was right when she said, “We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”
Of course, everyone has fond memories of the past year; some of them were good, and others were bad. But that is a fact: we learned from our mistakes and we savored our successes.
But the past is the past. Let’s appreciate the birth of a new year. Edward Payson Powell urges, “The Old Year has gone. Let the dead past bury its own dead. The New Year has taken possession of the clock of time. All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve months!”
Henry Ward Beecher has also reminded, “Every man should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances; but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past.”
The coming of the New Year means resolutions to some people. When I was still in high school, every year, when we were back to school, our English and Pilipino teachers usually required something on our New Year’s resolutions. “He who breaks a resolution is a weakling,” notes F.M. Knowles. “He who makes one is a fool.”
Helen Fielding, in her book, Bridget Jones’s Diary, quipped, “I do think New Year’s resolutions can’t technically be expected to begin on New Year’s Day, don’t you? Since, because it’s an extension of New Year’s Eve, smokers are already on a smoking roll and cannot be expected to stop abruptly at the stroke of midnight with so much nicotine in the system. Also dieting on New Year’s Day isn’t a good idea as you can’t eat rationally but really need to be free to consume whatever is necessary, moment by moment, in order to ease your hangover. I think it would be much more sensible if resolutions began generally on January the second.”
Perhaps one of the best resolutions I have read was the one written by William Ellery Channing. It goes this way: “I will seek elegance rather than luxury, refinement rather than fashion. I will seek to be worthy more than respectable, wealthy and not rich. I will study hard, think quietly, talk gently, and act frankly. I will listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with an open heart. I will bear all things cheerfully, do all things bravely await occasions and hurry never. In a word I will let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious grow up through the common.”
Here’s another one from Ann Landers: “Let this coming year be better than all the others. Vow to do some of the things you’ve always wanted to do but couldn’t find the time. Call up a forgotten friend. Drop an old grudge, and replace it with some pleasant memories. Vow not to make a promise you don’t think you can keep. Walk tall, and smile more. You’ll look ten years younger. Don’t be afraid to say, ‘I love you.’ Say it again. They are the sweetest words in the world.”
Ellen Goodman once said, “We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives – not looking for flaws, but for potential.”
Goodman’s statement reminds me of this story. A holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said, “Lord, I would like to know what heaven and hell are like.”
The Lord led the holy man to two doors. He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew which smelled delicious and made the holy man’s mouth water. The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths. The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. The Lord said, “You have seen hell.”
“They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was a large round table with a large pot of stew which made the holy man’s mouth water. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.
The Lord said, “This is heaven.” The holy man was surprised, “I don’t understand.” The Lord answered, “It is simple, it requires but one skill. You see, they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves.”
This year, please remember those who are needy, hungry, and poor. As an unknown author pointed out: “Your Merry Christmas may depend on what others do for you … but your Happy New Year depends on what you do for others.”
Sydney Smith suggests, “Resolve to make at least one person happy every day, and then in ten years you may have made three thousand, six hundred and fifty persons happy, or brightened a small town by your contribution to the fund of general enjoyment.”
It is said that every year, God gives us two boxes to hold. “Put all your sorrows in the black box,” He instructed, “And all your joys in the gold.” So, that’s what one unknown poet did. “Both my joys and sorrows I stored, but though the gold became heavier each day, the black was as light as before.”
So, with curiosity, he opened the black box to find out why. “And I saw, in the base of the box, a hole, which my sorrows had fallen out by,” he said. So, the poet showed the hole to God, “I wonder where my sorrows could be!” God smiled and told the poet, “My child, they’re all here with me…”
“I asked God why He gave me the boxes,” the poet wrote. “Why the gold and the black with the hole?” God replied, “My child, the gold is for you to count your blessings, the black is for you to let go.”
As you start a new year, I hope that this would be your prayer, too: “May God make your year a happy one! Not by shielding you from all sorrows and pain, but by strengthening you to bear it, as it comes. Not by making your path easy, but by making you sturdy to travel any path. Not by taking hardships from you, but by taking fear from your heart. Not by granting you unbroken sunshine, but by keeping your face bright, even in the shadows. Not by making your life always pleasant, but by showing you when people and their causes need you most, and by making you anxious to be there to help. God’s love, peace, hope and joy to you for the year ahead.”
Happy New Year!!! — ###
