AND just like that we are in 2019 in what could be a tabula rasa for some or a futurus persevero for others. I chose both.
Tabula rasa simply means blank slate or a blank sheet where one can write new things. A new year is that - a time where one can start fresh ideas like learn a new skill relevant to current time probably like growing herbs in pots near the kitchen and using these when cooking. It could also be visiting new places and learning new things or exposing one’s self to novel ideas. This can mean adopting new attitudes like tidying up ala Marie Kondo. Decluttering ala Kondo meant putting our hands on everything that we own, asking our self it sparks joy, and if it does not, thank it for its service and get rid of it. I’ve been thinking of the continent of clothes I have amassed and jesas, I have yet to find time for that spark-of-joy session. Then there would the books that has turned the middle of our living room into a library sans the shelves and true, there have been have read books whose conversations we bland. No spark. Yet, I have to go through another mountain to separate the joy-filled and joy-less occupants.
The other simply means continuing what has been started and dinosaurs like me have a lot of that like an exercise machine gathering dust at a corner, an unfinished long essay, study, or project. Long ago I would fret about the year coming to an end and I have half-read books or have unfinished passion projects. I have let go of that attitude when other priorities took over like caring for sick parents which was obviously most important.
But other than material stuff there are other aspects we let go of too like toxic people in our lives. This year I think I’d be more circumspect of the people I vote into office whether this would be at the barangay or national level. I have yet to determine how to gauge the “sparks of joy” they bring to our lives but implementing laws would be an indicator.
For example, the regularization of some 3,000 Jollibee employees is not an initiative of Bello but his implementation of a law that has already been there. Cleaning up Manila bay and cancelling several NYE balldrops by the Cimatu-led is also joyful news. There’s Green Windows in Davao City opening its doors to people with special needs so I’d rather endorse their budget hotel to visiting friends. But I have also heard that one of the people I regularly buy food from has left his family for a younger woman. So, I will no longer patronize him (curse me if you like) because I do not believe I should help feed his illicit joys. That though is not Kondo’s just obiter dictum.