Thursday 27 December 2012

A Dedication to 2013

This is a note that I wrote a year ago, dedicating it to three of my friends. Despite the passage of time, my thoughts and wishes for them in 2013, remain the same. This is the reason for posting this note again. I dedicate it to those, who like them, have taken up new responsibilities and who, as a result, confront new challenges every day and take each of these challenges in stride!

Dear friend,

A few weeks after happily welcoming baby Dylan home, my friend Edwin celebrated the first Christmas  as a father. Elsewhere, for the first time, three months after his wedding, another friend, Michael, spent his first Christmas as a married man. Separately, miles away, after about two years in what she felt was being out in the wilderness working in a distant and remote town, another mutual friend, Catherine, celebrated what must be her best Christmas ever in her new position as Project Assistant for a leading multinational company.

For each of these people, these events that took place this year- the birth of a new baby, marriage and finding new employment- came with new responsibilities. If they haven't already presented challenges, these new roles will do so in the New Year. Edwin , the proud father, knows that he will have to contend with waking up on many nights to tend to a crying baby. As a responsible father and husband, he knows that with a growing family, he now has to set the bar a little higher, to provide the comfort he would wish for his little son and his lovely wife.

Michael, the happy husband knows that after taking a most sacred vow, he will have to work on his marriage every minute of every day. He knows that inevitably, there will be fights, sometimes about the same things.  He is also aware that sometimes, even when he is right, he will have to back down and apologize to his beautiful wife. He knows that for better, for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, he has to love and cherish Shirleen till death do them part.

On the other hand, Catherine, the new kid on the block, knows that in her new position, she must work very hard if she is to earn her stripes. She knows that she will have to deal with a new and diverse group of people, integrate herself as best as she can into the organization, while at the same time delivering the best results upon which she will be judged. She has proved herself a number of times before and now she must do it again!

It is ordinary people with ordinary lives such as Edwin, Michael and Catherine (not their real names), who I proudly celebrate this year and who I dedicate the year 2013 to. I also dedicate the New Year to scores of others who like them, have stayed the course and are making progress. I dedicate it as well to those who continue to work diligently and who in the process, have made great strides on the path of duty.

 I dedicate it to the single mother who is raising her daughter alone but who does her best to make sure that that her little girl gets the best education possible, as well as to the young doctor, who after years of sacrifice, knows that he must take his current situation in stride if he is to break through the ‘glass ceiling.’  These people though faced by different challenges, are united in the belief that although the road may be long and treacherous, they must set off,  if the destination is to be reached.

I dedicate it to you and you and you, whose story may never be written, whose face may never be on TV and who may never be recognized for your effort to improve both your life and the lives of those around you, but who in the New Year, will continue to do what you must, to secure the future! God Bless You and Happy New Year!!!

Yours truly,

Maroa

What are your hopes for the coming year, 2013? What would you do differently in your life? What would you not change? 


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