People the world over are eagerly waiting to see the dawn of January 1, 2022 despite the fact that New Year’s Day is a phenomenon that has continued for centuries.
However, while ushering in the New Year we should be ready to make a constructive plan after having drawn up our moral balance-sheet of the past, with a view to mending or putting right the moral injuries or impairments which we had deliberately or inadvertently committed in the last year.
Such a positive or constructive moral planning would win the cheers from our own kith and kin. If we do not want to repair our past shortcomings, not only us but even our near and dear ones will suffer from our adamant attitude.
Nineteenth century British poet Alfred Tennyson put it so beautifully when he said: “Ring out the false, ring in the true.”
He wanted each of us to build a better future by casting overboard our false hopes and disappointments. Positive thinking can only change our lives for the better.
The Prophet of Allah (S) gives hope to all those who feel disappointments. He said: “Every son of Adam commits sin, and the best of those who commit sin are those who repent.”
We all know that Adam and Eve committed a mistake, but God in His infinite wisdom forgave them upon their repentance. What is to be learnt from this incident is if one falls into sin, all that is required is sincere repentance to God Almighty.
The year 2021 has already drawn to an end. All of us know that as one ends another begins. This is an undeniable truth that we witness in life. This process will continue until the final bell of this world rings as pre-destined by the Lord of the Worlds.
It is also a fact that no year was left without sprouting different events.
The first happy event of 2021 was the swearing in of Joe Biden as the new US President.
The second notable event was the assassination of the President of Haiti, followed by the European Union announcing a 70 per cent rise in the number of people entering the bloc illegally compared to 2020.
A surge in migrants crossing the English Channel from France triggered a diplomatic row between Paris and London.
Then came the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed for brokering peace with neighbouring Eritrea.
If China gave us the coronavirus in 2019, South Africa gave us the fast-spreading Omicron in 2021. The coronavirus claimed millions of lives all across the globe; it’s anybody’s guess what havoc Omicron will cause.
Let us say farewell to 2021 with sincere wishes, and pray for 2022: “May God Almighty bless us and especially our beautiful Bahrain in abundance. May Allah lift the calamity from the entire humanity.”
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