Happy New Year

What a year 2011 was! On one hand, the "developed" world is still reeling from a financial crisis the end of which we have yet to see. Arab countries are in turmoil, with people protesting against oppressive regimes and being brutalized for it. In the third world, violence, war, famine and diseases continue to claim their terrible toll.

Yet, amid this despair, a few glimmers of hope: "occupy" movements and self-help networks spring up across the western world. The arab world has seen two regimes toppled by their own citizens (and a third by foreign intervention) even if  the result is not yet the democracy the people hoped for. Only the problems of the poorest parts of the world seem as intractable as ever.

Oh, I so wish that 2012 would bring nothing but good news from every corner of the globe. I wish the crisis would end, that the economy would pick up and that no one would have to worry about their next meal or how to survive in their old age. I wish no gifted youngster would have to forsake their education just to make a living. I wish there were no prisons full of dissenters or protestors, no torture, no oppression. I wish there were no wars, warlords, conflicts or refugees. I wish every child born would live to old age. I wish every person had enough to eat and a roof over their heads. I wish no one cared about anyone else's color or religion. I wish education and health care were available to all. I wish the rights of every man and woman were respected and none had to live in oppression, submission and fear.

I wish the powerful had less power, the greedy less opportunity and the masses more say.

All in all, I wish for a year better than the previous one.

Happy new year, everyone.
May it be better than our wildest dreams!