Let us renew hope for the New Year [Archives:2004/802/Viewpoint]
The beginning of every year should constitute a landmark in which a person would renew hopes and plan for a more prosperous future. I use this occasion to rethink the things I did in the last year and learn from my mistakes to do better in the New Year.
The year 2004 for Yemen has had many incidents, most of them bad, but some good. Among the good ones was crowning Sana'a as the Arab Cultural Capital 2004, resulting in tremendous activities of cultural nature. It was a time in which the capital was recognized for its cultural richness and historical importance.
On the other hand, the conflict with Al-Huthi and his followers for several weeks have caused serious damage to many areas in Saadah and caused great loss in life and money. Nevertheless, the fact that the insurgency ended decisively saved the year.
Some may not have hope in the future in this time. Among them are the journalists who have been harassed, prosecuted or imprisoned, including Abdulkareerm Al-Khaiwani, who has suffered a lot for more than 6 months. He is now serving his jail sentence and was unable to appeal at all. For him, not a lot of joy is there to celebrate with the New Year's turnover, as he will still have to complete his one-year term.
It is truly amazing how time flies. I can recall as if it was yesterday when we gathered around the pictures wire service that we had to select the best photos to represent the world's events in 2003. It is now the time to select photos for the New Year.
Obviously, from the pictures we found from the wires for this year, we could see that 2004 was mostly full of unpleasant news such as the demise of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, the atrocities and torture documented at Abu Ghraib Prison, the humanitarian disaster in Darfur. Apart from that, the re-election of George W. Bush, this has dominated a large area of the news, plus many other things.
In the last year, after the bloody war on Iraq and the different negative developments then, I asked myself, 'Can it get worse than this?' but when I saw the selected photos of 2004's events, I realized that the answer was 'Yes'. Indeed, 2004 was in some ways worse than 2003.
Now I am repeating the question and asking, 'Could 2005 be worse than 2004?' Even though some would argue that there is a great possibility that it could indeed be worse, I would like to think that it would not.
However, for those who base their conclusions on numbers, statistics, plans, and research can easily conclude that at least for Yemen, things could be worse, at least in the short term. They base their findings on the plan to implement the upcoming economic dose in the form of raising benzene and diesel prices, the ongoing population growth, the scarcity of water, and other negative phenomena that are evidently going to be more evident in 2005.
Yet, if one thinks of the future as dark and believes in that the future will always be worse than the past, then he/she would be de-motivated, lack interest in work, and even life.
Hence, I urge you if you are among those pessimist -even if you weigh your conclusions on facts and figures- to please think about the potential miracles so as hope would re-emerge and make you live with high spirit and more dedication.
There is nothing to lose when you think optimistically, let us maintain hope and look into the future with a rosy vision, at least for the coming month or two
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
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