I used to remember when I was still a student that when I reported on the first day of the year to school, our teachers in English and Values Education would usually asked us to write a short composition about the favourite theme My New Year’s Resolution. We were told that it is time to change ourselves for the better during New Year to have new life. And so went with the lists of resolutions we wanted to make. And it’s not a guess anymore that some of them failed and others fulfilled. Why is it so? I may say, maybe, or perhaps, it’s not yet time to have what we wished for ourselves, or maybe we lacked some strategies to do it. Making resolutions is not a bite of hotdog without exerting any effort.
But I would like to share that it’s not that easy to get what we dreamed for ourselves. Perhaps to help us better understand why it is so, let us try to look into the etymological meaning of the word January, which is the first month of the year. The word ‘January’ derived from the roman god Janus with two faces – looking forward and backward. He was known to be the god of the beginnings, of the past and the future, of gates, doorways, and bridges and of peace (Encarta Dictionary). The very definition could give us a very good suggestion that when we make resolutions such as to change our old ways or stop old vices and the likes, I think one have already forgotten to look back at the past but instead headed forward with the speed of 150 kph. And along the intersections or crossroads we lose our way where we are heading to.
The two-face-image of Janus is somehow teaches us that we must take some time to look back and to look forward. To look back is to learn tremendous lessons such as our past mistakes and achievements we could get and bring them along with us in our journey. This is an effective way to help to know ourselves better and somehow change our old ways. Then, with this ingenious strategy it would usher us to the gate of new life with full of peace with ourselves and others.
