Hopes for Sucessful 2019

By: Joe Mauricio

 

Let’s make it a point to meet and learn from people who are from the other sides of your point of view. Chances are a glimpse into other lives will overturn assumptions, build empathy, and remind us that we’re more alike than different.

Inspired by his 75th birthday, my best friend tried to resolve to try one new thing a week for a year, from something adventuresome, like a gun-shooting class, to something more sedate, like eating at new restaurants…. the possibilities are endless.

Nothing impresses me more and inspired me more than people who act to improve their small corner of the world. These are folks, anonymous to most of us, who have discovered how empowering and uplifting it is to volunteer in the community.

Our publisher Veronica volunteered to be a server at the recent affair at the Rizal Center, or befriend a lonely senior, or come to the aid of a bewildered stranger. She said it gives her a feeling of happiness to take a breather from her busy publishing job to lend a helping hand to the community. May we all resolve to discover the joy for ourselves and our community in 2019.

Here’s hoping that Filipino-American leaders at all levels will put the community ahead of personal agenda and reach across the aisle and other divides to work together for the common good. There are so many important issues in need of collaborative solutions, like the FACC’s Rizal Center for the Filipinos.

Here’s something that’s sure to make 2019 successful for you, read and make it something more than a paragraph, post or a tweet. Not everything in magazines, newspapers, etc., will please you. But will make you stronger. And sometimes it will give you a joy you can get nowhere else.

In this new year as you comment on social media, ask yourselves, “Would I say this to a person’s face?” If the answer is no, consider more kindness in your responses on Facebook, Twitter, and other social platforms. Sure, it’s fine to disagree, but we can do it without the name-calling, insults, and attacks that we see too much of from behind a phone or laptop.

For the New Year, I hope to see and focus on what’s right in our little Filipino community instead of what’s wrong. I hope we can spend less time looking for things to argue about and more time focusing on now to accomplish what we agree on.

Mostly, though, I hope we can remember to say “Salamat” (thank you), and let me start by saying “salamat” to all our readers who make what we do very rewarding and worthwhile for our community.

For the year 2019, we hope for health, happiness, tolerance and understanding. For many of us who have seen what hate and bitterness bring, why not try LOVE instead?