A simple tick of the clock that humans assign such importance. Would that life actually cared about things like a new second; we would surely be more attentive to each moment, each action, each decision that we make that makes life harder for those around us.
But we’re not. Life isn’t like that. Life doesn’t care that the new year is coming. It doesn’t care if our neighbor is hungry or thirsty. Life is selfish. It’s concerned only for its continuation. The only ticks of the clocks that actually matter to life are the first and the last.
But being human means that our lives are more than mere existence. Being human means that we develop our essence over those ticks of the clock. We develop whom we are. We hope for whom we will become.
And so we assign importance to ticks of the clock: birthdays, holidays, and the beginning of a new year.
There is hope that we will be more than we were before. Here are a few of mine.
I hope that I will love more than I have been loved. There’s little doubt in my mind that I am loved. Every smile from my boy, every hug from my girl, every kiss from my wife proves this to me every day. What I’m not so certain about is that I’ve loved others more. Without being too Schindler, I’m certain that I could have done more. I could have done more to speak for the voiceless. I could have; I will do so.
I hope that the areas where our community comes together, like in our schools, that we will find a way to work together to help all of our kids. All kids are our kids. They are all our responsibility, our duty. And we must fight for them all. We must say to those who are behaving in such a way that some children matter less than others that they are wrong. We could do more; we will do so.
I hope that our teachers, aides, principals, therapists, and volunteers will know how much we value and appreciate the work, the damn near impossible mission that they have taken upon themselves. We must fight for them as they fight for all of our kids. We must value them as they value all of our kids. We must support them as they support all of our kids. We must respect them. We must make certain that they know that they are indeed the most important people in our system. We could do more; we will do so.
I hope that those who have entered our community only seeking what they can take from our community, and particularly from our children, will accept our invitation to leave. Your selfishness is not welcome here. I could do more to make this clear; I will do so.
Finally, I hope that my children will learn to value questions, to ask them boldly, to speak for themselves and others, to scream against injustice, to love selflessly — especially those whom others ignore, abuse, hate and dismiss. I could do more to show them this in my life; I will do so.
These are my hopes for the new year. I will work to make them come true.
May your new year hopes also come true with the tick of the clock.
__________
(Oh, and PS. I hope that Alabama rolls over LSU on the 9th. Just sayin . . . Roll Tide.)
Many blessings to you, your family, and your supporters in 2012. You are becoming the conscience of Huntsville, and many are grateful! May God continue to give voice to the “invisible ” children of HCS through your wisdom, compassion, and strength of Spirit!
Goodness, Helen, but I hope that someone more deserving can be the conscience for the town. Thank you for such kind words. I hope your family has a blessed year as well.
I hope the teachers, support personnel, administrators, parents and students Occupy the School Board until they do right (no pun) by the tax payers.
I hope people like you, who honestly care about the future of ALL children, will be elected to school board.
I hope the media starts telling us the truth instead of enabling the school board to ignore us.
Education is the HOPE of the republic.
Keep Hope alive in 2012.
Well said, Redeye. As always. Happy new year!