Enews128 迎接2009年 USHERING THE NEW YEAR
出自KMU e-News
高雄醫學大學e快報 第128期 好老師徵文專題
本校97學年度以醫研所開設的臨床醫學碩士學程加入國合會國際高等人力培訓外籍生獎學金計畫，本年度共招收4位外籍學生，3位來自西非的甘比亞，1位來自中南美洲的聖露西亞。4位學生將陸續在e快報發表文章，自我介紹或是抒發生活上的感想，也邀請他們的好朋友或學伴寫下與他們的相處之道，期待本校師生能更了解這些遠道而來外國朋友。此期由來自甘比亞的Kebba(葛安)分享他回顧2008年的感觸。
迎接2009年 USHERING THE NEW YEAR (2009) As we wish each other a happy and prosperous new year, which is surely needed reflecting on problems of 2008, we should doubt in our reflections ask ourselves the questions; “what have we done as individuals for the world, for the people less fortunate than us, people who are in dire need of our attention, what have we done to address the problems facing world?”. Well you could say the world’s problems are not your problems. But in fact the world’s problems are surely your problems for you are who make up the world. Then, you may say: “oh what we can do at individual levels may be too ‘petite’ compared to the immensity and the gravity of the world’s current problems”. Well, you could be well reminded that most of the great things achieved in our history started with individuals like you. Those people must have dreamt and believed that they could achieve their dreams; refusing to be dogged by any limitation in power or ability they may have had as individuals. They dreamt, desired, believed and achieved. And so we can, too. All that is needed is what I call the ‘CAN DO SPIRIT’; the belief that there is nothing we can’t achieve when we put our minds to it, that in anything we do until we fail we shall never fail and that tomorrow is always the better day so even when we fail today, tomorrow we will prevail.
2008 is considered as the worst year in the recent times given the fact that during this year the world has experienced it worst financial crisis in the last several decade with no country being spared. Millions of people lost their jobs, banks went bankrupt, and markets went down as they did in the Wall Street in New York. And prices went up. There are armed conflicts in some parts of the world, natural disasters wrecking havoc in other areas, innocent people being killed for no just cause and others being prosecuted for the right cause. Others are being denied of their inalienable rights because they look different or they believe differently. Diseases continue to ravage communities in certain parts of the world as thousands go to bed hungry. As individuals we may not have been affected directly by these misfortunes but does that give us guarantee that the next victims would not be us, our families, or friends? Or are we better off because we have not been affected directly? Once again, we should reflect on what we have done for those unfortunate victims especially those of natural disasters. What are we doing to save us being victims in the near future or what would we do for those who might be affected when it happens again?
I think it is high time we start acting now as Chris Daughtry sings in his song What About Now, and as Immortal Technique says in his song You Can Never Tell, and you can never guarantee what happens in the next five minutes. Therefore, it does not matter what we do as individuals, our line of work, the part of the world we live or come from, the name by which we call God if we believe he exists, the different political ideologies and economic principles we believe in and subscribe to; what is important is the fact that we are all human beings living in this ‘global village’ and know that what affects somebody in Canada can affect someone in Taiwan, as what affects somebody in Greenland can as well affect someone in Madagascar. So it is time we all contribute in our small and humble ways to the peace and stability of the world. I don’t think there would be more we could wish for, for the coming year. For peace and stability are born of the best things we wish for as human beings.
However, despite all the crises, all the uncertainties and all the misfortunes; it was not all gloom, for there were events we would reminisce and have nostalgia about at individual, family, community, country, regional and the world level in 2008; there always is, no matter how hopeless our conditions would be. These are what keep us going as human beings and give us hope for a better future thus the hope for a greater prosperity in 2009. And as Alistair Cooke said in Letter From America after the September 11, “America is down but not up to the ground,” in 2008 the world has gone down but not down to the ground it would bounce back, back up from going down. This is my belief and this is the belief I am going to enter the New Year with, hoping and believing in brighter days in the coming years. So have a happy and prosperous new year. May it be the best of your years so far.
Kebba S. Bojang
Graduate Institute of Medicine
Kaohsiung Medical University
Taiwan.
