The start of a new beginning
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: January 01, 2014 -

It is that time of the year again when we have to stand at a crossroad to ring out the old and ring in the new.

It is that moment when we need to look back and take stock of the trials and tribulations of life in the year that is dying into the night to give way to the warm morning sun of a fresh day, a new year.

But the bitter truth that the people living in this strife-torn State have always found hard to swallow on such day of reckoning is that the year which commenced on high note with new hope and promises of better days seem to simply slip away leaving behind nothing in the hands to cherish for in the days to come.

All the wishes that the people made to each other at the beginning of 2013 for happiness and well-bring come to naught with peace and harmony remaining elusive.

Even if the number of deaths in insurgency-related incidents may have come down, guns and bombs continued to reign supreme throughout the year, snuffing out the lives of many an innocent people.

Regardless of the claim made by the police of its 'impeccable track record' in fighting against crimes and criminal activities in 2013, people continued to experience sleepless nights and restless days as signing of peace pact between the Government and some of the insurgent groups has come to be regarded as giving some sort of immunity to carry on with their nefarious activities without any fear and remorse.

On the other hand, the outgoing year saw a steep rise in the number of drug smuggling cases involving even influential people and graph of crimes against women and children spiralled out of control.

Now, with report on announcement of calling a 24-hour State-wide bandh starting from January, 2014 in connection with the murder of 12-year-old coming in, one can safely conclude that 2014 is not going to be any different from the preceding years.

Nonetheless, in spite of all these premonitions, as we have always said and believe, the journey of life has to go on, and we should be thankful to the almighty for giving us another year to live, to love, to laugh, to give and to strive even more harder this time for making at least some difference in our life in the days to come.

This is the chance to ring out the old and ring in the new, ring out the false and ring in the true, and to banish worry, doubt and fear.

Let us not be bogged down by the horrifying memory of the past or of the mistakes we may have made, but learnt from these experiences and mistakes.

After all, the very fact that we are making mistakes only goes to show that we are living and doing something and thus learning new things from them.

Let bygones be bygones, and utilise the opportunity given to us. January 1 is like the first blank page of a 365-page book for us to write on.

So let write something good this time. On this optimistic note, once again, we, at the Hueiyen Lanpao Group of Publications, would like to extend our warmest greetings and best wishes to all our esteemed readers, patrons and well-wishers for the year, 2014.