He said: A few days left for a new year. Yet I feel that days became similar, burdensome, filled with melancholy, pain and tears more than joy and pleasure, I think I no longer remember how happiness is! I see many people feel so. I looked to him in silence as if I was trying to pass times, events and situations, I said: the world is going through recurrent events, and each person gets exposed to pressures and burdens, such negative feelings keep control of one’s life, so he loses happiness. But you shall not lead life with such destructive feelings; because then you will lose the meaning of life and the desire to pursue it, and this will only lead to death! I do not mean to get rid of your life, but to lead a lifeless life. He said: Excuse me! I cannot understand the meaning of “a lifeless life”!
I answered: undoubtedly, not everyone who leads a live is really living it, I mean life in its broadest sense, not confined to breathing, pulse and motion. Many are deemed alive, yet they have neither a goal nor hope, they do not try to grow or to overcome the obstacles and problems, so their days become copied from each other, as if they are a long endless day. On the other side, some people realize that the journey of life is full of hopes, so they rush to achieve their goals, not fearing its winds, but rather navigating amid the crushing waves. A proverb says: “Quiet seas do not make a skillful sailor”
Winds, storms and crushing waves give you experience and skills, they grow your capabilities of understanding and dealing with life problems. It is all about your perspective of the events you go through. You are the only one who decides whether your perspective will be a positive or a negative one. Let me introduce to you two real models: a man and his sister were afflicted by a chronic disease which needs a lifelong treatment time; the man gave in to his illness, having his life filled with despair until he attempted, in vain, to commit suicide, which increased the burdens he bore.
However, his sister did not give in to her illness, but rather she began to practice sport which she mastered greatly, that she was awarded many prizes, she lead a normal life which made her overcome her flaw, and restored her life from melancholy and submissiveness. She lived in happiness and became the best supporter for those of heavy burdens.
O friend, the new year is a new chance God has given to you, many people were deprived of this chance as they departed from the world! So: first you shall thank God for this chance, then you shall invest it in good and peace, take heed to your goals set; as many of us, amidst life burdens, lose our vision and mission, drift away gradually until we become strangers!
Happy new year to all of us
The General Bishop
Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
