It’s so easy to be on a downer; no money, no work (or an unpleasant job ), horrible weather, forgot to lose that stone before Christmas, have to work New Year’s Eve, gas bill arrived. There’s no doubting it, it’s easy to get bogged down in life.
And to make things worse, you read the papers and see the stuff of nightmares. From the Murphy Report to murder in Derry, not forgetting all the road deaths, house fires, and the heartbreaking story this week of the death of a young garda in Donegal. All these horrid acts of human cruelty, of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and ill fate make it hard to have hope. And hope is just what we need.
For any or all these reasons, and more besides, Christmas seems to be a very difficult time of year. I guess after 50 odd weeks of work we all need a break. We’re all a bit tired and grumpy and fed up with stupid budgets, stupid politicians and their month long holidays, and someone else always has something fantastic planned for Christmas and just loves nothing more than rubbing it in your face.
But you know, there’s a lot of goodwill out there too. Just look at all the support given to the Athlone flood victims. There’s not a shadow of doubt that people all over the country really came out to show support for those whose homes and livess were damaged.
So with this in mind, perhaps we should all go forward with a little hope in our hearts that things might just get a shade better. Let’s all stop with the anger; and there’s no denying there’s a lot of anger going about. From frustrated customers giving out to poor unsuspecting bankers, to people flying off the handle and attacking our local representatives over Dáil issues.
I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed, but getting angry at people never really solves the problem, and no one likes to get shouted at. Instead, for the next week, why not have a little joy, relax, forget about work, and enjoy some good company.
We need to march into 2010 with our heads held high and some hope in our hearts. Otherwise what’s the point?
