January 1, 2002: A Day for Change HAPPY NEW YEAR [Archives:2001/01/Viewpoint]

Tomorrow, we will all be welcoming the new year 2002 with great hope and expectations. No doubt, millions of people all over the world will be celebrating this occasion with great relief for throwing away the burdens and miseries of 2001 and opening a new page for the future. But no matter how people try to forget the miseries of 2001 including the greatest terrorist attack in recent history, they will still feel the effects of those sad events for tens of years to come.
I know that there are tens of thousands of relatives of those massacred in the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, DC. I also know that thousands of Muslims are also mourning the Palestinians killed in the occupied territories. There are also thousands of Iraqi children that died last year because of lack of medicine and enough food. The year 2001 claimed a lot of lives, not in one place and not in one time, but in various countries and of various races and religions.
However, life must go on, and people will continue to die while others will be born. It is the life cycle that will only be terminated on dooms day. Let us look to the future with optimism and hope. I sometimes feel that the turnover of years is a blessing as it reminds us that we can always start all over again and forget the unfortunate past.
We cannot afford to keep reminding ourselves of what we did wrong. We are all humans and we commit mistakes. But we should avoid those mistakes in future for the sake of our next generations.
Today is the last chance for all of you to bring your miseries to a halt and see the world in a different view by putting into effect the change that you have wanted to do. The last day of the year should mark a period, a full-stop and tomorrow, January 1 2002 should be not only a new paragraph, but a new white page that we can start writing in immediately.
If we think carefully amongst ourselves we will realize that it is us who make those pages full of joy or full of misery. We are the ones who contribute to what is going to happen in our lives. Hence, it is only fair to have us revise our way of life and start again in a different and better way. This applies to individuals, as well as to leaders and politicians.
As a regular citizen, you should start with yourself and use this opportunity to change to the better in treating others and utilizing your life. For decision-makers, the will for change must even be stronger because any positive change they enforce in the new year will affect millions of lives. Those politicians can participate in ending the miseries of their people and in creating a better world for all of them.
For our President, who is a gentle father and a kind human being like many of us, I have a special message on this occasion: Never lose hope. Despite the tough times you went through in 2001, you must have hope in 2002 and beyond. You can open a new page with new plans, ideas that are more suitable to the era we are living in. You are the commander-in-chief and can open a whole new world of opportunities for your people. Go for it, and do the change you wanted for so long. This is the best time, and today is the best day to take the brave decisions you have been thinking of.
Whether our President will listen to my words or not, I still wish him all the best in leading Yemen through these difficult times. We should all stand by him and realize the pressure he is under.
Finally, may the year 2002 hold prosperity for Yemen and the world, and Happy New Year from Yemen Times.

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