HOPES FOR THE NEW YEAR - A "LET'S BLOG OFF" POST

Every two weeks, the blogosphere comes alive with something called a Blog Off. A Blog Off is an event where bloggers of every stripe weigh in on the same topic on the same day. The topic for this round of the Blog Off is "What are you looking forward to in the New Year?"

Ever since I first came to Sicily in 1992, I've been fascinated by the way in which elderly people here, when asked how they are or even sometimes just for the sake of saying something, will sigh and utter, "Siamo qua" - "We are here".  It took me a while to figure out that they were not referring to their physical surroundings, but were really thanking God for the fact that they were still alive.  And that is pretty much how I am feeling this New Year.

Image: http://www.italymag.co.uk/

I know that some of my readers imagine that I live the "life of Riley" and it is true that I am happy in Sicily and would not turn back, even if I could.  But it may surprise you to learn that there is a situation in my life - partly of my own making and partly not - which has rendered me suicidal several times in the past year and it is my earnest wish never to feel like that again.

Some of my long-term readers will also know that, just over a year ago, someone who I thought had left my life forever suddenly came back into it - in the sense that we are in touch, that is - and I would love this to be the year of a reunion. Sadly, that seems a forlorn hope right now.

I've also been hurt by another man recently but, whatever I might write facetiously on facebook, I have no wish for revenge for I am old enough to know that, in the phrase my mother was fond of quoting, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord" and that what goes round tends to come round - eventually.

On a more positive note, I'd like to think that this is the year in which I'll achieve my ambition and write that book and for that you'll have to watch this space!

With regard to my adopted country, I hope it has a better year:  it was a brave step to appoint an unelected government of "experts" and I wish Mr Monti and his ministers every success.  However, the trouble with "experts" is that few of them, in my experience, are experts on how ordinary people have to live.

I also find myself with some contradictory feelings this New Year:  I hate sport and consider the Olympics a spectacular waste of money but I can't help hoping that my country of origin puts on a good show [given that we have to have it] and I of course pray that no terrorist threat or act will mar the occasion.  Staying with Britain for the moment, I am no monarchist or supporter of unearned wealth but I do think it's a bit sad that Her Majesty the Queen is expected to celebrate the death of her father this year and I wonder why her Diamond Jubilee could not have been celebrated next year upon the anniversary of the Coronation.  

Official emblem of Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth 11
by 10-year-old Katherine Dewar from Chester, UK

One event I am looking forward to is the Peace One Day Global Truce on 21st September 2012:  if we can stop war for one day, then why not for two or three or a year or forever? All it takes is for enough people to "Imagine".

http://www.peaceoneday.org/en/welcome

But most of all I hope that I will be granted more time with my precious thirteen-year-old dog, Simi and that this time next year I'll be able to say, "Siamo qua - We are here."

Simi as a puppy in the UK

John Lennon - Imagine



Below is the full list of bloggers participating in this theme:

PEACE DAY AND ALZHEIMER'S AWARENESS DAY

Today is Peace Day and World Alzheimer's Awareness Day and I've been wondering how I could connect the two.  One way is obvious and I'll repeat what I have said in some of my Breast Cancer Awareness posts - that if governments spent on life one iota of what they spend on killing people, cures for so many diseases could be found.

But there is another way in which the two causes are connected and I think this is especially relevant now, as we lose the generation that lived through the Second World War and as those of us who remember the shocking images of the Vietnam War age and, children of "peace and love" as we were, perhaps become disillusioned.  The recollections of those who have seen war in their time are important resources for all of us;  without them we may dismiss the horror of war and we must never forget or let go of our ideals of peace.

At Christmas 1914 the guns fell silent all along the Western Front as men on both sides of a terrible conflict remembered they were human, in some cases just for one day.  But if we can remember our humanity for a day, we can do so for two days, three, 365 or more.  That is why I am supporting Peace One Day and the Global Truce planned for one year from now.

Let's face it:  governments everywhere have botched peace and they have betrayed the elderly and vulnerable. Peace begins where individuals reach out to one another and we can make a start by treasuring those around us.  Each memory is a precious drop of rain which we must collect in our thirst for peace.