It could be said: This was the happiest year ever, if only it wasn’t also the saddest. 2015 came and went in exclamation points! Followed by the longest and most profound pauses. What can one do?
To celebrate so many events that seemed at first impossible, so many triumphs, mixed in with the most profound losses. So many risks, so much adventure, he must be thankful he is still here. 2015 came in a daze. 2015 was a year for us to change our view of ourselves. Who are we? What are we made of? The year came as it did after some of the most cataclysmic events of our time. The rest of the world got into thinking these islands are some of the most dangerous places on the planet. Those who live here must be made of steel.
We must be a people made of steel to think it is paradise here. This is vacation country. This is party place. Some of the most beautiful things are here: Things of mystery. Places so beautiful, it makes perfect sense that some of those hills that overlook them are sleeping volcanoes. Which may, on their own time, choose to reawaken. We can point to the ground here and claim with a sureness: This is the ring of fire. We are the ring of fire.
Fire. And the winds are never too far away. They visit here every year in a regular cycle. Each one having its own nature, its own propensities. And it cannot be guessed when and where particularly they will strike. And then, some people living here would lose everything. But after that, what else can they do but to rebuild what has been lost. This is the way of the world, the way of life. And no one can escape from it. One can only build things stronger after every loss.
We help each other. That is what people made of steel do.
We are used to the imperfections of the world, the imperfections of life itself. We can live in less-than-ideal conditions. We have always done so. And we will keep at it without being overcome by fear of the next cataclysmic event. It will come when it will. And when it comes again, we know better how to survive. We will not be defeated.
We are warriors, much scarred by all we have ever been through. Things could be much better than they are. We constantly do battle to make them better. But if things don’t go our way, that is all right still. We do the best we can. We know perfectly well how things change slowly for the better over an extended period of time, even while they can get worse in an instant. That is the nature of life. That is the nature of paradise.
That is why we are who we are. We should be cowering in fear for all the unpredictability of our lives. But we would not know how to do that even if we wanted to.
We say instead: The whole world has become a dangerous place. And we do not see how this place could be as dangerous as others. The dangers are peculiar to us. We are used to all of them. And we take polite pity on those who are not used to unpredictability. Those, especially, who require more guarantees than what reality and nature can give.
Unpredictability, not predictability, is the essence of the adventure of life. And how so well we do know how to rest from our adventures? We know how to celebrate, know how to eat well, to drink, to play, to have fun, to lose ourselves into the great big party of life.
We know how to love, know how to love friends. They or we, and each of us, could go at any time. And who can tell if this is the last time we will ever meet? We light up. We ask stories from each other and tell to them our own. We exchange handshakes, we kiss, we hug, we say: Ayo bai! Be good until the next time.
And so ends, 2015! So long will we remember this year.
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