“The conventional Happy New Year approach is to think of the New Year as something that happens outside of our selves. It is a good luck wish that the New Year, in some magical way, will bring us our heart's desire. We look to the New Year to make us happy. When we expect happiness to come to us from the outside, we are usually disappointed. Happiness is not guaranteed by sunny weather, a raise in pay, a new car, a beautiful home, or anything else of a material nature. External things are often possessed by very unhappy people. Happiness does not come out of a New Year; it comes out of men and women. Life does not change when we hang a new calendar on the wall, or when the clock strikes midnight and a New Year begins. The only way life will change for us is when we change ourselves
Wilferd A. Peterson
I have known Feroz for the last 3 years. He is an employee of our society association, who takes care of the walkways and horticulture. This is a job for someone young; Feroz is quite aged and debilitated for all this kind of work. The management refrains from replacing Feroz, due to his loyalty.
1st January, 2012 - India was cold, like it is every New Year. I have always been an early bird, and my morning walks have been the routine for the last 7 years. It was nothing unusual that day as well. In the cold, all I could see outside my apartment was mist and fog. But there was no excuse to miss my routine. So I wore my shoes, and headed for my first walk of the first
day of 2012.
There was complete silence – it was like everyone had celebrated the whole night. The fog was slowly settling, and the rays of the sun were trying to appear from far behind
the clouds.
The only sad part was the littered stuff around the garden walkways. It dampened my spirit, and I decided to go back home. I was about to leave when I saw Feroz cleaning one part of the garden. I walked up to him. He looked at me, and like always, there was a smile on his face. He politely wished me, “Happy New Year, Amma”. I promptly asked, “How come you are doing all this, and that too so early on the very first day of 2012?”
Feroz responded, “Amma, it is just a day like any other day. I do not want people to walk on dirty walkways. It is the first day of the year, so they should feel good
and special.”
It was good to see someone so dedicated and human at heart. Like other staff members he could have taken a day off, but he woke up early and came for us. I decided to join him in cleaning the garden. Somewhere I felt fortunate that I had come for a walk that morning.
The year might be changing, but it should be like any other new day for us. We party all night, leave the venue in high spirits and determined resolutions, but leave the surroundings dirty for others to clear.
‘Small things’ can make a ‘big difference’ in our lives. Let us make an effort to change ourselves – today.
(The writer is the author of ‘14 Pearls Of Inspiration’, and an avid blogger)
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