~ I came across this poem recently published by Benhur Soans, “Let’s Make a New Start.” I’m unable due to copyright reasons paste it on my blog, but can provide the link above for your viewing and make a few comments of discovery as I reflect on this poem, in simple form, which calls for a much needed element in the lives of those in need of second, third, and fourth chance to reach down deep inside themselves and mold a much needed new normal. Ironically, this poem was officially published the same week (4/28/10) that I experienced a major transition in my life that left me momentarily void of any hope that “love, happiness and joy” would be any part of my future. It’s amazing how dark such a place called “failure” can be. But if a person can be strong enough to hold on and not give up, you can hear a subtle whisper (echoed by this poet), “Come, let us make a new start.”[1]
~REFLECTION: Like a fresh sea breeze on the dawn of a new day, this invitation awakens your senses to the fact that there is more life to live, more friendships to cultivate, more lessons to learn, more love to embrace, more memories to make. In other words, there is more to life than the past. The past is only one third of an entire life. We give the past way too much credit, attention, thought, and power. With only one third of the vote, the past must submit to the present and the future, which together hold two thirds ownership rights to a person’s life. The poet subtly employs a strategy for the new encounter of love, happiness and joy - which is to try “new ways to deploy love, happiness and joy.” In other words, if you want to experience love, happiness and joy, creatively and intentionally deploy it (arrange and position it) for others to experience. Who am I to deploy love, happiness and joy to today? What opportunities are right in front of me? This is the reason for the intentionality of the plurality of the invite, “Come, let us make a new start.” A new start is never an isolated event. A new beginning is never a solo act, it’s an ensemble of many who dare to live. To truly live is to continually embrace the often mysterious, and at times scary, newness of all that we are in the now, and inevitably becoming.
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