Learning from our mistakes in 2010

On New Year’s Day, when the singing, fireworks and champagne toasts are over,

many of us take time to reflect on our lives. We consider and plan new courses of action for self-improvement as we promise ourselves, “This year, things are going to be different.”

But all this celebration and reflection is the result of more than an accident of the calendar. The New Year has a deeper significance for all of us. Because as we rethink our lives, we rethink what happened in the world surrounding us and how those events have affected our lives. In 2009, we faced many challenges and obstacles. We continued to witness a war raging in Middle East, religious conflicts resulting in death of hundreds in the name of God, poverty rates escalating all over the globe, over 90,000 swine flu cases worldwide with several fatalities and global warming effects, such the powerful earthquake that tore through central Italy devastating historic mountain towns and killing at least 40 people. And the list goes on.

Amidst the fog of tragic events, it is hard to remember clearly the good things to which we all cling to make sense of it all. Our family and friends are always a good reason to thank God. The fact that we are here, in the land of opportunity, that we have food at our table, and a ceiling above our heads are blessings often forgotten.

Hope and faith, however, have also flourished. Although the impasse on immigration reform still makes daily headlines, there is hope that after voting for healthcare reform, immigration legislation will be a priority in the next session of Congress. To see Republicans and Democrats working together is certainly one of the many New Year’s goals and resolutions for immigrant groups and supporters. But what is the purpose of making such goals and resolutions? Perhaps, making New Year’s resolutions stresses that not all is lost and that as human beings, we want to strive to live by our natural rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In the beginning of the New Year, many people accept, often more implicitly than explicitly, that happiness comes from the achievement of values. That is why we decide to be healthier, more compassionate and more confident. We want to enjoy that sense of purpose, accomplishment and pleasure that one feels when achieving values. It is happiness that is the motor and purpose of one’s life. On this holiday, more than any other day, the attainment of happiness seems more real and possible.

Nevertheless, we are not victims fated by circumstance or possessed by luck. We have control of our lives and, therefore, with God’s help, we can make choices to change it.

To achieve happiness you must open your heart and allow the presence of God in your life. There isn’t a single goal or resolution that cannot be achieved without God’s interference, because He is the light and core of all goodness in a human being’s life. So, on New Year’s Day, fill your champagne glass of life and celebrate your values, the lessons from your failures, your goals, your resolutions and God’s presence in your heart. May peace reign all over the world and people be more tolerant and generous with one another. Happy New Year to all!