The New Year
The new year affords us the opportunity for a fresh start, to step free of old, unwanted habits and into the new. It is a great time to look with new eyes at the lives we live and the values we hold. We could consider the Sage’s Prayer and ask what that means to us right now, right here.
May all be happy,
May all be without disease,
May all behold the good
And none be sorrowful.
—Sage’s Prayer
This prayer seems especially relevant in light of the tragedy of the bushfires and their dreadful aftermath, which has no doubt touched us all. With these events the strength of unity is most needed. It is important that we hold in our hearts and minds the compassion that will allow the care and support to flow where it is needed—not just in the next few weeks, but over the months and years that will be needed to build afresh.
It is time to consider what it is that we can do to make a positive difference so that those who have experienced the terror and loss, may face the future confident in the genuine support of the broader community. The words of the newly elected American President bring the Sage’s Prayer into a practical context:
“What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility—a recognition, on the part of everyone, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.”
Barack Obama, Inaugural Address, January 20, 2009.
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