Hyphen

The gist of this following post is not from me (marked in bold), but there is so much wisdom in it, I wish to share it with anyone and everyone who visits this place. When I take notes, I would mark out important lines with a small asterisk, when it strikes a chord with me; I double the number of asterisks, or draw big stars beside the lines. Today, my notebook is covered with so many asterisks, great big stars, exclamation marks, boxed up words, underlined and re-underlined.

I am not one who embrace changes. I guess it is natural for most to prefer lingering in the realm of familiarity to swimming in the unfamiliar. My resistance to change is that- but to a greater intensity, I detest and disregard change. Change is the hyphen between the old and the new and I view this ambiguous dash with a tinge of weariness. Perhaps, I fear change so much that sometimes I choose to remain ignorant in order to continue in the usual conventional accustomed manner.

And perhaps, this ignorance has even led me to believe that there is nothing wrong with stagnancy. In fact, it might even be romantic, being sentimental and reminiscent, thinking about good o’ times that has passed and gone, or living the present days in the days that are over.

In this mood of reminiscence as we cross over to 2008, lamenting how time flies, we also make New Year resolutions once again. Some have stopped doing so since we never seem to follow those goals anyway, such that they remain as fiercely determined alphabets and words on pages of diaries and journals.

The way we leave determines the way we enter. As we stumble or stride into a new year, it is not just a difference of the last digit, we are confronted with a brand new set of threehundredandsixtyfive days, new circumstances, new people, new opportunities.

Yet, to allow these opportunities to knock on our doors, we do not just wait, or even just pray, we make decisions for ourselves for all change begins with a decision and change is necessary for growth. Since our whole entire life is one continuous change after another, there is no reason to be obstinate.

Fools won’t change,
Dead Men can’t change.

And because we are neither, let us all be courageous and lead the change, before it leads us.

I just read what I have written and I can’t help but feel that this is such a diluted version of what I experienced. I wish I could reproduce the same but I can’t and I shall end on this note: We are where we are because of the decisions we make.