President Christine Kangaloo is reminding the public that the arrival of a new year brings with it an opportunity to reflect and reposition.
In her new year message, President Kangaloo said: “We reflect on the triumphs and the pains of the past year and, with the wisdom we have gained through the experience of our triumphs and our pains, we reposition ourselves to face the new year and to make of it the best that we can.”
Her Excellency said as the country reflects on the year 2023, there are many triumphs—including the triumph of what would appear to be our full return to normal social and business life, after the dark period of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We see triumphs in sports, in music and in academia. We see examples of triumph in the parents who have sacrificed everything for their children’s education and in the smiles of the children who have excelled at their studies and made their parents justly proud. These are just examples of the many triumphs that our country has been privileged to experience in the past year," she said.
But the President also observed that a look back at 2023 also reveals a great deal of pain.
"We see the pain of families who have lost loved ones to disease, to road accidents, and to crime. We see the pain of the untimely loss in 2023 of many of our country’s beloved artistes and writers. We see the pain of human trafficking and of the abuse of vulnerable citizens—many of them children," she said.
As the new year begins, President Kangaloo is encouraging citizens to, “acknowledge the complex and multifaceted nature of the human journey and to come to terms with the fact that, no matter who or what we are, we all experience both happiness and sorrow, success and failure.”
“I believe that one of the challenges for us is to embrace this essential duality of the human experience, and not to give up hope in, or because of, moments of pain or disaster. As difficult and as agonising as those moments can be, the challenge is for us to remember that even in the darkest of times, there is potential for positive change and growth," she said.