AND so this is Christmas, as John Lennon sang. It’s been a very varied and busy year, whether at home – for businesses trying to battle challenges on all fronts – or abroad for the world in general.
Wars are raging in several corners of our troubled globe and instead of getting closer due to advancements in technology, it seems, for some strange reason, that we are in fact getting further apart as a planet.
Add to that, the self-inflicted damage we are causing our one and only home and you have a very complicated world to navigate indeed.
But this is the time of year to reflect on what’s gone before and see how we can improve things in the future.
Our five-page look back on 2024 in next week’s issue is a good way of reviewing the main stories in West Cork, but if historians were to review this year, in decades to come, they would see it was a year of conflict and division around the world.
Luckily, the year just gone in Ireland was one of continuing peace on the northern part of our Ireland, and very little inroads in the south by the forces that would seek to divide us.
However, as a country on the outer reaches of the north Atlantic, we can sometimes be like the remote country cousin – always the last to know, and therefore the last to copy.
Often what is happening on ‘mainland’ Europe is just a sign of what’s to come for us, so no time to rest on our laurels and feel smug in the knowledge that the vast majority of us are happy with our lot, and love Ireland as it is.
The results of our general election would certainly seem to back up that theory – so few of us were willing to rock the boat or mess with the status quo.
But who’s to say we will always be so complacent about, or satisfied with, our lot.
With tech billionaires getting their often grubby hands on the strings of power all around the globe, other people’s agendas may soon swamp ours, so we must be cognisant of the threats to our democracy at all times.
This is a good time of year to look back and realise that we are very lucky in this country to have our freedom, our democracy, our independent media, our transparent public service and our (mostly) conscientious politicians. We should enjoy it, and hope it lasts.
When we look around us and see the chaos that comes from division, it’s good to know we are steadfastly united in this country, thus far.
Let us not be any bit complacent about that luxury. Let us spend this time of annual reflection pledging that we will continue to be the type of people that other countries look upon with admiration and envy.
And let us try to spread a little bit of that love. Let’s start at home this Christmas. And let the love spread out far and wide from those modest beginnings.
And to borrow from the great John Lennon once again:
Have a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year – let’s hope it’s a good one.
A mild Christmas is not good
ALL the predictions are that these holidays will, once more, be very mild, weather-wise.
Met Éireann tells us there is no hope of a white Christmas, with temperatures in the double digits this week.
It is great news for those driving around the country to visit relations and make it home for the festivities.
But it’s a sign that all is not well on our little planet. A return to frosty Novembers and Decembers in northern Europe would be a sign that our attempts to halt climate change were working.
