by Tony Ndakoh

Created on: January 01, 2009   Last Updated: January 07, 2009

One of the very many blessings for which we really should be happy and thankful to God, Allah, Buddha,or whoever we believe our creator is, is LIFE. Before our very own eyes in 2008, we watched loved ones leave us, good ones turn bad, happy ones turn sad, healthy ones take ill, heard of extremism in all its forms, and were victims, if not victors of malaise. Yes, we cursed ourselves, those around, our creator, and life itself for being so cruel.

The year ended may not have been as smooth and wonderful as most, if not all of us would have wished, but like a boat at sea, the waves and storms come and go, but we remain and the journey continues. For those in whose lives the storms came in 2008 and persisted till their demise, we commend their souls to the creator: may they rest in peace. For those in whose lives the storms came and apparently have persisted till now, I commend you to keep the struggle on and stand tall, for your creator has a because to every why. You may have lost you job, house, or other valuable property and assets; been a victim assault in all its vices - sexual, racial, physical, or even spiritual; or may even have been responsible for someone else's malaise and till date blame yourself for it and are emotionally down, but whatever malaise struck last year, the vital truth is for you all who get to read this article, you definitely have something to be proud of - YOU ARE ALIVE.

You have the most precious gift of all time - LIFE, so remain thankful to your creator, for not all who started the year 2008 with you are here in 2009, and even if at all present, may not be in the same condition/situation like they started it - yours may have grown better, another's worse; but the bitter truth is you would never have been able to make such an assessment of your situation had you not been alive. And for those in whose lives the storms never came at all in 2008 (who I bet will be very few), remain thankful to your creator, but don't get big-headed just yet, for no one knows tomorrow. For my dear friends in the second group, I dare to challenge you with this: rather than remain gloomy and curse yourself or whoever, ask yourself, 'WHAT DOES ANOTHER YEAR MEAN TO ME?'.

Is it just another opportunity to improve at the bad and evil things you do, spread your extremist ideas and acts and claim more lives; foster your political greed or ambition at the detriment of others; abuse your children, partners and/or parents; make sure someone's situation just gets worse

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