AMONG the many myths that circulate, the one that I find to be very true is the claim that time moves faster when you are older. Indeed, I no longer get depressed by Mondays because I know that soon enough Friday will arrive, and it will be the weekend again.
First, the international one:
>1. I wish for all wars and conflicts to end. Even though there are parties that would rather it didn’t, I am hoping that common sense will prevail, and some serious action will be taken that will result in ceasefires and long-lasting peace. It’s hard enough seeing endless videos of children without limbs, people begging for food, statistics of doctors, nurses, aid workers and journalists being killed and whole cities being obliterated, it must be worse for the people who must live every day with this violence. Already there are reports of an increase in mental illness and domestic violence and saddest of all, children wishing to die, all in relation to the genocide in Gaza. God only knows what would be needed to mentally rehabilitate all these people even if the war ended tomorrow.
>2. I hope that Americans understand that they are about to become what they used to derogatively call a Third World country. Is there any country more addicted to killing than the United States, whether of foreigners or their own people? How does any country tolerate 488 mass shootings in 2024 alone and still do nothing to stop it? What is the difference between a Palestinian child having to live with the fear of snipers shooting them in the streets and an American child having to go through metal detectors at their school doors in case someone decides to bring a gun to class? I am puzzled why Americans will not lift a finger to stop either.
I must wonder at the growing trend of censoring books in the US as well as the violent reactions to student protests about the Gaza genocide. We know all about censorship here and reacting violently to student protests is something we used to see all the time, so much so that they hardly protest about anything these days. Maybe that’s the whole idea, to discourage anyone from protesting anything at all. So much for the world’s greatest democracy.
>3. I hope the trend of insularity and nationalism is a short-term one because I don’t see how we can all stop nations being dependent on one another. Already so many countries are trying to build virtual fences around themselves. As an example, there are now requirements for travelers to fill in Electronic Travel Authority forms for travel to many countries, even those that have always been visa-free. It means you must wait until they grant you permission to enter them before you can book a flight. You don’t know why they might reject you and, in some cases, they will charge you a fee for applying, regardless of whether you are approved or not. This will undoubtedly discourage many people from traveling which may have an impact on those countries that depend on tourism for revenue. More than that, it will decrease interaction between different peoples and different cultures. The world will be poorer for it in every way.
>4. I’ve been saddened to see so much hypocrisy exposed in the West and I hope some people will feel ashamed of it. It’s been instructional to witness the utter silence of Western feminists on the plight of Palestinian women due to the genocide in Gaza. What happened to the global sisterhood and solidarity?
For the domestic one,
>1. As always, I wish for some intelligent policies from our leaders, or at the very least common sense. Why for instance abdicate their lawmaking power to unelected people and basically do themselves out of a job?
>2. Like a lot of people, I would like to trust politicians in power to implement their promises and not become cookie-cutter leaders once they get into government. It would be good not to be further disappointed next year.
>3. It would be nice if we behaved well wherever we are and not be different people at home and abroad. For example, being bad drivers at home because we can get away with it here but being extremely obedient ones abroad especially in Western countries because we are terrified of the law there.
>4. I really would like to see less performative support for oppressed people overseas. For example, shouting support for Palestinians in Gaza and yet incarcerating Palestinian refugees who have made their way here. Constantly talking about solidarity amongst the global ummah and then treating Rohingya refugees like dirt and falsely accusing them of wanting to set up a separate state. Some introspection on the way we treat people different from us would be good.
>5. I wish we would stop embarrassing ourselves by insisting that everyone in the world behaves like we do here. Especially when we want others to be as narrow-minded as we are. Is it detrimental to our faith to wish others on their festival days for the sake of goodwill? What if they all decided they wouldn’t wish us on our festive occasions? Are we entitled to their good wishes without any reciprocity on our part?
>6. In a year that’s been almost all about rain and floods, can we please now start taking climate change seriously? If we cannot stop rain, can we at least look at ways to mitigate the impact of floods, if not stop them altogether? Every year some of our fellow citizens must regularly deal with having dirty water and mud course through their homes. How do we put an end to their misery?
>7. And finally, I don’t understand why some people feel compelled to treat animals with so much cruelty. Is it because they cannot fight back? I find the sort of mentally that would torture, injure or kill animals very troubling. If we can find the perpetrators, can we ask why they did it?
It’s a longish list and probably a tall order too. But if by the end of next year, which undoubtedly will arrive speedily, we have made some progress in some of these, I will have some hope that change can happen.
Meanwhile, I wish everyone a New Year that is full of peace, kindness and joy.
Marina Mahathir is, despite everything, looking forward to 2025 because she is an eternal optimist. The views expressed here are solely the writer’s own.
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