Happy new year 2012!
My dearest friends,
Year 2012 started well - if only by not resulting in the Mayan predicted end of the world.
Yet I was told as a joke that this “event” was just postponed to december 21, 2012 - to which I replied “Well, that is good news - almost 12 free month gained!”
In jokes, as in life, we sometimes only see the bad points. We tend to forget about the good parts.
Yet as a doctor, when I think about “12 months”, I am reminded that this is above the average life expectancy for patients with treated small cell lung cancer in extensive stage. These patients are people like you and I - only with a little less luck. As I said before, we tend to forget that, maybe because we do not understand how blessed we are. How lucky of us to fear a rumor while most of these patients will face a much more certain fate!
Likewise, the economic situation we are all facing is just a reminder of how spoiled we were, and how ungrateful we have been.
Just for one or two tiny issues, we forget to bless the lord for all the goods things that were and still are given to us on a daily basis. We have come to expect them and give nothing in return. We take for granted. We think we deserve everything. Those who don’t have faith just think they are entitled to everything society produces.
Year 2011 has been very good for me, and year 2012 also started very well - and I guess that if you are able to read this message, it is going well for you too.
Of course, like everyone, I had my ups and downs. I am for example fighting cybersquatters, and I’m sure you have your own challenges as well. Sometimes they may feel overpowering. Yet just a glance at people with a little less luck makes me thank the lord - every morning as I wake up, for every meal he provides me, and for every challenge he presents me.
New year wishes are a good moment to think about friends, changes and the future. I usually wait until the very end of january to send my wishes, because they are, let’s say “not so conventional”, and I wouldn’t want to spoil the moment.
This month, I am sure you have been wished the best by everyone you know, just like I was.
Yet we should all remember the ‘Chinese curse’ - three curses of increasing severity, the first being “May you live in interesting times”, the second being “May you come to the attention of those in authority”, and the third and worst being “May you find what you are looking for and may your wishes be granted”.
So I will not wish you an interesting year, fame, or finding what you are looking for. That is what I had in year 2011, which back in january I would have preferred to be quite different, yet something I understood in december to be quite foolish. I wanted more, but now I thank the lord for such presents, because many people were far less lucky. In 2012, I will try not to forget that whenever I feel like complaining.
Therefore, just as I wish for myself, my family and my closet friends I have the luck to see offline, I will only wish for you in 2012 to find happiness in the lords way.
Jesus said “the Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). May we all follow Jesus in this new year- not by just our words, and not even by our actions, but by our understanding of his infinite wisdom - the first understanding being how lucky we all are to hear his message of salvation.
Happy new year 2012 from the French West Indies!
Best regards
Dr Guylhem Aznar, MD PhD
PS: @jesus on twitter shows poor taste. Don’t fall for cheap imitations - follow our true lord and saviour in your heart, not on the internet :-)
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vCard: http://guylhem.tel
