2014, bring it on!

The time for summing up is past. Today, we take our first steps into the New Year, into 2014, and away from the memories and lingering effects of the year just past, with all its calamities, tragedies, scandals, violence, hurts and disappointments.

On this day, or perhaps the night before, I used to sit down and try to write a list of resolutions, which usually included losing weight (an ambitious 20 pounds in one year), an item I invariably failed to achieve; and tackled both the usual (“I will meet all my deadlines”) and the unusual (“I will try to visit all continents of the world”).

Well, I’ve stopped doing that. The main reason being that I usually failed to achieve most of the items on the list, or forgot them even before January was over.

Also, on hindsight, I realize now that many items on my “resolution list” weren’t meant to be, or shouldn’t have been. I’ve since realized that it’s better to live in anticipation of the unknown, to be caught by surprise, pleasant surprise as much as possible, and to drag up all my courage, inventiveness, innovativeness and resilience to cope with the new and the unexpected.

So 2014, bring it on!

Bring on the challenges and preferably the rewards! Bring on the detours I’ll need to take, the new paths I have to forge. Bring on new friends, new colleagues, but let me keep the people who have long been part of my life, who are precious because they know my history and I theirs. Bring on aging, even, and the freedoms they allow, the freedom to be cranky and difficult, as Gilda Cordero Fernando writes; the freedom to step out of the house sans make-up, since even pounds of powder and foundation won’t disguise the wrinkles and in fact only emphasize them; the freedom to talk back to and even chastise sales personnel who displease you, instead of having to swallow your bile when you were younger, conscious of your “image.”

Well, “image” be damned. It’s a new year, and one is old enough to welcome a blank page, conscious of the many opportunities waiting to fill it, to crowd it with experiences and memories. I’m ready and eager and there’s no stopping me!

*  *  *

On this first day of the year, let’s take time to look back. The government panel in the peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) issued a statement towards the close of the year which sums up the steps taken to arrive at a comprehensive and lasting agreement for peace in Mindanao.

But the statement has something to say, as well, about the national aspirations for peace and progress, to which the peace talks (with both the MILF and other insurgent groups) contribute a large part.

“In all,” says the statement, “our efforts at the negotiating table sought to find the good balance between what is just, practical and constitutional for this moment in our peoples’ history, and those other, higher aspirations that may find fruition and wider acceptability in some later future but not now. All the time, we based our work on the shared principles of mutual respect, devolution, inclusivity, harmony and good governance. These principles are the essence of the Annexes we have signed.

“We expectedly faced many challenges from those who chose to continue the path of violence, the skeptics who have seen earlier similar processes fall back on expectations, and the disgruntled who feel they would lose privileges they have long enjoyed. To all of them, we extend the hand of peace and open ourselves to dialogue and continuous engagement in the hope that we will find fair reconciliation.”

*  *  *

“Fair reconciliation,” those seem to be operative words not just in the pursuit of formal peace negotiations, but also in the national “project” of forging consensus across all barriers—ethnicity, religion, ideology, regional origin, class, gender and political ambitions.

We need not just to arrive at a consensus on what benefits the greater number but also to ensure that the process towards consensus is just and equitable, and honors the deepest aspirations of everyone. Impossible? Not really. But difficult, certainly.

The government panel’s statement acknowledges the rocky road they and the MILF leadership trekked to get where they are now.

“This year, we recorded scores of harassments initiated by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters against military outposts and personnel in Central Mindanao and Basilan. Big and small bombs were set off in different parts of Mindanao, among the most serious of which took place in Cagayan de Oro in July, and in Cotabato City in August. In September, Zamboanga reeled from the attacks by forces loyal to MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) leader Nur Misuari. We grieved with all the victims of these atrocities and condemned the senseless violence. And we will continue to do so until once and for all, we take the guns away from our political life.”

And yet, amid the violence and aggression, hope lived on.

“Catastrophes, whether self-inflicted or by force majeure, have thankfully not broken the Filipinos’ spirit. They have strengthened and united us towards the common purpose of rebuilding lives and reconstructing communities affected by such mix-match of tragedies.”

*  *  *

Indeed, with the signing in July of the Annex on Wealthsharing and in early December of the Annex on Powersharing, the peace talks are proceeding apace. And despite the fears and apprehensions, the cynicism and intrigue, it seems the fruition of the Bangsamoro, democratically created with duly elected officials, will come to pass.

It is a development we should all—Christian, Muslim and lumad—anticipate and prepare for, pray for, dream of and work towards.

I may have stopped writing New Year resolutions, but in my mind and heart, this is one dream I will nurture and keep alive.