SOME of us are asleep and do not wish to be woken up for the dread of being brutalised by the cruelties of life.
Others, even though asleep, think or pretend to be awake, and these are the people in constant denial and might be living in the clouds.
Some who really want to wake up from their state of ignorance wait to be awakened by others, often missing the best opportunities in life.
And yet there are people who pretend to be asleep and can never be woken up neither by force nor fervor.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.
Once we begin we shall reach the destination sooner or later, depending on the forces within or without.
Most of us only have a problem starting, thereafter we are pushed forward willingly or otherwise, and our conscience will not allow us to idle ourselves into nothingness.
We have braved the oddest of odds in 2020 and have come out mostly scathed in varying degrees but alive.
Going by the glass half full expression, we should be gratuitous that the power above, akin to a lighthouse, has provided constant direction and hope in moments of despair.
Unlike the past many years, when we could have made fancy and superfluous resolutions with the intention of breaking them more than keeping them, this time around it has been quite a dramatic distinction of what people desire and want to achieve in 2021.
For me, in these extraordinary times of uncertainly, everyone having enough to eat and a decent roof over their head would already be considered a luxury.
You only have to imagine the fear and uncertainty looming over millions of Americans just days before 2020 ended, when US President Trump threw in last minute spanners in the works of the Democrats to disburse supplementary Covid-19 relief funds.
It would have had major implications if Trump didn’t sign the bill, but he did eventually after days of major threats of unleashing misfortune on the people of America. I tend to think it was for the thrill of feeling important, perhaps for the last time, or was it plain sadism?
Here we do not have the luxury of such regular funds, even for the B40 group of people.
The various relief measures are mostly one-off or intermittent.
If it is not too much to ask, it is my desire that elected representatives take time off from politicking and go to the ground to meet and greet their constituents, and look for the micro minorities who might have missed the safety net.
They should not have to wait for the media to highlight extreme cases of poverty, and then jump in and appear like a knight in shining armor to offer assistance.
We then have the most basic right of every citizen to feel safe when on the road, after all we are tax payers and expect our roads to be safe for all vehicles. A pothole can be most fatal to a motorcyclist or a cyclist, especially in the dark.
Every citizen should be entitled and not just VIPs who happen to hit the limelight button.
Having said that, it was unfortunate that the minister got entangled in a series of brickbats and explosive comments when he posted on social media about his fall from hitting a pothole.
I suppose we could be magnanimous and forgive the masses, after all many of them are trying hard to make sense of the chaos in their lives, the nation and the world.
Sometimes it just feels ridiculous that slowly and surely our sense of right and wrong is going terribly wrong to the point that we can only watch the horrors unfolding.
I hope the minister has recovered from the mishap and would try new routes each time he rides so that we can ride on him for better roads, and of course thanks to the Works Ministry who has since pledged to rectify potholes within 24 hours after receiving complaints.
Now, we may have another problem with this where civism is not a widespread virtue in the country. Civic mindedness must be culturally imbibed for this system to work.
Incidentally, this year’s new messages from family, friends and colleagues have been heart-warming with many of them just hoping for the virus to go away like a bad dream.
Finally, can we have the politicians put aside their differences and work towards getting the vaccine into the country and ensuring the distribution is done in a just manner, reaching the most vulnerable first followed by the rest of us? With this, Happy New Year!
Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
