Reflections on a new year and life

From: T MARKANDAN Silverglen AS IS customary, I will toast the new year, wishing and hoping that 2017 will bring us into calmer and safer waters.

And as I swing into the new year mood, I will forget all the trials and tribulations of a turbulent year that left many of us down in the dumps, bereft of all hope and faith in the Rainbow Nation.

As my mind swirls about, I question the meaning and purpose of life and death, of God and religion, and wonder if at the end of this short sojourn on Earth, there is nothing but emptiness and oblivion. Why then go on from day to day, year to year when life only brings death? But when my mind drifts away and sees the myriad life forms on this wondrous Earth and how each does not see beyond tomorrow and question death, but is busy enjoying life, even if it is for a few hours, then I feel comforted. I am not alone but one with the Earth and all its life.

Then I look at the starry skies and try to comprehend the vastness of the universe. How, I wonder, did all this come about? Who is right, religion or science? Could we be alone in the universe? If there are tens of billions of galaxies each with tens of billions of stars, surely, as the law of probability suggests, there must be not one, but many Earth-like planets with life forms more advanced than us? And who created all this? Is there an answer?

But as the effects of the liquor wear away and the euphoria of New Year’s Eve fades like a rainbow, I come down to Earth and realise the new year is just like the old one, maybe even worse. But we humans are a sanguine lot and never give up. Even in moments of utter despair, we cling to dear life. So let’s be like the bees and the butterflies: enjoy the moment and say cheers to a happy New Year.