At the dawn of 2016 and as it is often the case every year, people are thankful for a brand new year. They take the time to reminisce over the previous year and make New Year’s resolutions. Since everyone values life in a unique way, individuals set goals they wish to achieve during the year. To that effect, they pledge to work hard to turn a dream into a reality.This is the general idea about making a resolution, but I can only speak for myself. My 2016 resolution is the completion of my undergraduate degree in Journalism, having an employment with a newspaper company where I have daily writing assignments. Fulfilling this year’s resolution means turning my passion for journalism into a reality and a lifetime commitment to research, to read and to write and write for writing’s sake.
As we move one year to the next, we grow older and wiser with the passing of the time.Some of us resolve to work hard and thus achieve financial success; others set their goals for the New Year for various personal reasons, including for the well-being of mankind. Some examples could be volunteering time and effort for a worthwhile cause. A doctor who volunteers his service to helping cancer or aids patients or the smile, love and a little assistance of even a non-professional volunteer to dying patients makes a world of difference.
Also a missionary who resolves to work abroad under difficult circumstances to educate and to help an entire community, not only with the gospel, but in the transformation of the people’s lives, have achieved a memorable and heroic act of goodwill toward others. In other words, a resolution aiming at transforming one’s life is also an achievement worthy of heroism. For instance, the completion of a dreamed career empowers not only oneself, but the entire country. The intellectual empowerment of people creates self-sufficiency, raises the gross domestic product and the standard of living in the nation.
Some who came before us have set their resolutions high, thereby making history for us to enjoy or to learn from. They invent things that we are using on a daily basis: the airplane we fly; the car we drive; the technology and something as small as the ink pens we write with, etc. Every time one is involved in some type of a global endeavor, it's history when that work is put to public use. If everyone could set a New Year’s resolution and work hard to bring it to fruition, the world would be such a productive and peaceful place that the rate of crimes and violence would be insignificant. Whatever the goal one sets, it is a promise to oneself that one must keep and fulfill. We live off the resolved achievements of others. We need to come up with our own achievable goal to build upon what others have already created
My personal resolution is the fulfillment of a passion for writing. I want to be a watchdog and useful in my realm of responsibility where I am able to inform, to analyze, to interpret and to explain things as a service to society. Journalism is my lifetime commitment. With three classes left to graduate, it’s a never-ending journey that goes beyond setting the 2016 New Year’s resolution. It's a lifetime commitment that requires at least some inclination and love for it, but above all some talent and additional studies in sciences, economics and computer technology to name a few. I pledge to myself to complete the objective of journalism to meet the want of society with a sense of duty, skills and competence.
As much as I love writing, I find it to be quite a challenging career. Let me explain. I submit one article to the Odyssey every week. I write the first draft of the article; every day I wake up, I discover new changes that need to be made until the text is refined to my satisfaction and for publication. You may know that the Frenchman Nicolas Boileau wrote in 1674: "Make haste slowly; do not be discouraged, but return to the work frequently." Also a little story: I have befriended a Jewish couple who are journalists.They write books together; they proofread each other’s work; they do all their writings as a team. I always tease them by telling them that I envy them because they are a couple made in Heaven. My sense of humor generated a big laughter. Ah! Having a female partner with the same journalism career and the same passion for writing is something monumental. I am not putting myself on the spot, but it is always a plus to have some intellectual congeniality.
As the days come and go, we need to look back to see how far we are into the year and in our life in relation to how much we have accomplished toward our objective of the year’s resolution. Success is like gold; it’s not found at the surface of the ground. We have to dig and dig tirelessly until we find it. Then, it is rewarding when the goal for the gold is achieved. Hard work, steadiness and commitment are the combined requirements of a fulfilled resolution. “Making New Year resolutions is one thing. Remaining resolute and seeing them through is quite another,” Alex Morritt.
