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MANILA- 2007 is now only a distinct memory. Yet for me, it certainly did not go quietly away. Like the fireworks that lit up the Manila skies from midnight to dawn of December 31, 2007 to January 1, 2008, the year that just closed was one fraught with colorful- sometimes dazzling, sometimes deadly- displays. And that’s just on my own turf. In the realm of politics, calamities and showbusiness, 2007 can certainly boast of its just share in the limelight.

As our little family watched the dark skies light up with the rainbow of colors that herald the coming of the new year, as we listened to the ear-splitting sounds of whistle bombs, triangles and baby rockets in our midst, it suddenly occurred to me that all these noise and fanfare are simply forerunners of the year ahead. Just like any other year that came and went, 2008 will certainly have its share of surprises, trials and accomplishments. Just like any other year, it will give opportunities and take them away without batting an eyelash. And just like any other year, it will have the same number of month, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds that it always has. Yet, like every time it came and went, the New Year always gives a frayed humanity what it sorely needs: hope.

Although I’ve made the New Year speak like it was some sort of pyschic offering us a glimpse of the future, the truth of the matter is that 2008 or time for that matter, doesn’t have a hand in what happens to the world, to our country or to us. It simply gives us a blank page, an empty calendar in which to work on. It allows us to close the year before with all its successes, failures and emotional baggage and gives us a fresh slate in which to work anew. Though by no means does it give us rose-colored glasses or reason to believe that things will certainly work for us this time, every New Year gives us endless possibilities. It presents prospects for improving our lives, our health and our relationships. It allows us that precious chance to make of ourselves something better, aspire for things greater than ourselves, and ultimately get down to business to do the work necessary to make all these happen.

We are already given the groundwork to pursue our hearts’ desire- all the time that the Year of the Rat holds stretches out for us like an empty highway that extends to that place we could call success, contentment or achievement. And because we are mortal, 2008 could also lead us to that eternal sleep which only God can wake us from. Yet, even with such ominous acceptance of our own mortality, the New Year confers on us the hope that in spite of it all, we could still live our lives and make our mark in this world. For in the final analysis, it is the hope of something better, be it in this life or the next, that urges us to face life head on.

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