New Beginnings
New Beginnings
It's the start of a new year, the second in the first decade of a new century. One wonders what it will bring and hopes that the challenges of the past year are not harbingers of the future.
The last year of the old century brought its own unique series of fears. We all worried about what Y2K would mean to us. Would our computers work? There were certainly enough people around prophesying doom and gloom. But we survived it. In fact it was pretty much a nonevent. Here in the US, we were also absorbed in 2000 by the contested Presidential election. We survived that too.
2001 ... not only the first year of a new century, but a new millennium. One can only hope we will not go on as we started. Global recession, global hunger and global terror. Add to that the specter of global plague with outbreaks of ebola virus spreading across national borders, anthrax infected letters and shoe bombs. What next?
Something new has come into our lives and we aren't always sure how to deal with it. For myself, I think it important to focus on something outside my own personal orbit. I have felt that I wanted to contribute more to the world for a long time. I just wasn't sure how I could accomplish that. Many would say that I contribute a great deal by holding down a job, adding my dollars to the economy and by my charitable contributions. It doesn't seem like enough to me.
I want to make a difference in peoples lives. One of the goals we stated when we established the Xisti Forums is that we wanted to be part of a force for change. I still believe we can do that. The well known anthropologist, Margaret Mead, stated that real change can come about by the actions of a small group of dedicated people. I want to be part of such a group. I want to work to help people overcome their economic and educational handicaps; to help empower people in hopeless situations; to do something that brings joy into a life that has not known it.
There are so many things we can do if only we will. So perhaps the best resolution we could make for the new year is that we will make a positive contribution to humanity. And I will tell you a secret ... when you do something for someone else, more than just that person benefits. You get something out of it too ... a feeling of happiness that is often much larger in proportion than the deed you do. That's a nice feeling, one you could have day after day if you just looked around for ways you could help someone. Wouldn't that be a radical change to the daily texture of our lives?
Artistry
12/31/01
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