We’re ushering yet another New Year. Of course in the times we are in not only nationally but globally the smiles might not be as wide and as shining as New Year smiles are supposed to be. But still it is New Year. Time for reflection of how we came through the past years! How we made it this far and the lessons learned along the way. Genuinely is important. Once we look at those lessons then maybe, just maybe we might fare better in the coming year. But this is not as easily done as it is said. First it demands the courage to see the reality as it is and admit “So this is how it is…” only then can we think of changing what we can actually change and learn to live with what we can’t change. But most of things are mostly the creations of human actions and there is no reason why they couldn’t be changed. It is only with motivation and with dedication we can change things.
Here is an uplifting story.
An old man sat down to teach his grandson about life.
“There’s a fight going on inside me,” he tells the young boy, “a fight between two wolves.”
“One wolf is evil. It’s full of malice, anger, greed, self-pity and false pride. The other is good. It’s full of peace, love, joy, kindness, and humility.”
“This same fight is going on inside you and everyone else on the face of the earth.”
The grandson was quiet, pondering this revelation for a moment before asking, “Grandfather, which wolf will win?”
The old man smiled and replied, “The one you feed.”
That should be the question we should be asking. Which wolf are we feeding and which one are we letting starve?
The wolf of hate or the wolf of love?
The wolf of war or the wolf of peace?
The wolf of animosity or the wolf of brotherhood?
Because, after all everything that comes down to which wolves we’re feeding.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that we are in the most difficult times of recent memory. Apart from the wars and the near-wars all over the place, seeing the hurricanes, floods, landslides, blazes and the like presently besieging much of the world you’re forced to think twice about the whole business of living. Watching at impressive looking whole houses and the most modern of cars being swept away like unwanted toys thrown away you know that everything in this world is nothing but the reflection of toys in the last analysis. And it’s still for this world and for this life we have failed to work out how we can live together in harmony; because everything would be nothing better than toys thrown out faraway. The world seems to have lost track of reality. What is built over decades could all go down in minutes. The ferocity of the floods in various countries is so scary you’ll be pardoned for pleading, “God; please don’t subject us to such a disaster!”
Take this story;
At the beginning of a new school year, a class teacher stands up in front of her students holding a $100 bill.
She tells them, “Put your hands up if you want this money”.
Every hand in the room goes up, to which the teacher says, “I am going to give this money to someone here, but first, let me do this…”
She takes the bill and crumples it up in her hands, before asking, “Who still wants it?”
The hands stay up.
The teacher then drops the bill on the floor, stomps and grinds it into the ground, and picks it back up. “How about now?” she asks again.
The hands stay up.
“Class, I hope you see the lesson here. It didn’t matter what I did to this money, you still wanted it because its value stayed the same. Even with its creases and dirtiness, it’s still worth $100.”
She continues, “It’s the same with us. There will be similar times in your life when you’re dropped, bruised, and muddied. Yet no matter what happens, you never lose your value.”
Yes, life’s hardships are come and go. Realization that ever-present fat of life might ease our frustration at every stumbling block, small or big, we encounter along the way, there have been many, there will be many more. That’s what life is about.
In this age of a thousand and one daily headaches it could be exhausting to play the nice guy in town game. Many fail to acknowledge the gesture. But then at times you’re helpless, “What can I do! This is the world as it is. I’ll stay nice maybe until nice begins the hurting.
Of course, we can’t smile at a world where what you say or think doesn’t matter. Even if we do smile it would be about amateur diplomacy and not the expression of genuine feelings. We would like a world where our thoughts are heard and where we hear the thoughts of others. It is all about which wolf you are feeding. There are many of us obsessed with hate. And that is eating us inside out while at the same time it’s disturbing the social interactions.
We only hope that the world cuts back its political tug-of-war about the climate and do something about it. We have passed the time when everything said about climate change is taken as conspiracy theory. The monsters have come out of their caves and running only wouldn’t save us for a virtual doomsday; doomsday which would be a reality sooner than we would have expected unless the world reclaims its senses and goes into action to right the wrongs of decades.
“Another year in our lives is another chance for us to accomplish the impossible…. To transform our dreams into reality… to work for growth and success of our nation… to love our country and to be better citizens…”
Happy New Year!
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY 10 SEPTEMBER 2023