Out with the Old and In with the New

Happy New Year everybody.

I hope everyone brought in the New Year as safely as possible. I know some of you may have been at Church, others at a party, others asleep and others sharing that special moment when the clock crosses over the midnight hour at the end of each year.

I am always amazed that the end of the year brings people closer. Grudges are withheld, tempers calmed and it is almost as if for a few hours there is peace and harmony across the world(for most of us).

Sadly as many of us awoke this morning we were greeting with more news of violence still plaguing the world in these times when we should be giving thanks for the end of one year, taking stock and giving thanks for the beginning of another year.

For some of us especially, here in Trinidad we mourn the lost of our first President - Sir Ellis Clarke. Many others who shared a New Year's 2010 did not have the privilege of sharing New Year's 2011 with their loved ones. As I always say - gone but never forgotten. May they rest in peace.

As usual you will hear the many greetings of, "All the best for the New Year" etc. etc.

Our best for the year is always guided in a way by the "BEST" foot each of us put forward each day of this year.

I have said before and I will say it again. If we treat each new day the way we welcome the new year we will find ourselves daily, taking stock, giving thanks for the day gone by and asking for strength for the day ahead. The New Year is really one day away from the old as such we should try to meditate daily, the way we do at the end of each year. In doing this we may find that the New Year will bring new adventures, new experiences, new opportunities, new struggles, new challenges and new growth, by our daily renewal.

No year should resemble the last, and if it does then we can't say that there was anything "new" about the year. For many the new year brings new hope, and this is what keeps the human spirit alive. The hope of making the next moment better than the last.

We ring in this New Year of 2011 with a lot of joy and a lot of sadness; a lot of anxiety and a lot of peace; we ring in this New Year of 2011 really with the hope for a better self, nation, region and world.

God Bless us one and all as we thank Him for giving each us the opportunity to see another year.