::: Star Campus :::

Spotlight

A Fresh Year, A Fresh Start but before starting it…….

Amanat Ahmed

The last leaf of the tree is soon going to fall. The same tree will bloom 365 new leaves from the next day. The Time Tree is going to have a fresh look all over again putting the past behind. Yes, in less than 24 hours, another year will come forth. The old year 2006 will make way for the new year 2007. As always it is going to usher in new hopes.

We always start a year by promising so many encouraging, constructive and beneficial things we would do. We tend to make new year's resolution in the backdrop of the year just about to pass. We always put aside what we did wrongly in the last 365 days. But how many times did we wonder how did we pass the year? How many times did we try to unearth the causes of the wrong happenings?

Most of the time we want to forget the past rather than learn something from it. How can we stop recurrence of the same misjudgments if we don't learn from it? If we don't learn from the past happenings, all the unwanted things will take place over and over again. That is why it is particularly important that we learn from the past and discover what went wrong.

Without reviewing the past, it should be another misjudgment to think about or promise for the future. 'Past is past' should not be uttered as an excuse. Without past, the present cannot come forth and without the present the future will never come. Past is like a foundation. We all know, whatever the design of a building, a sound foundation is a must. Even if the foundation is not sound, the loops must be filled taking the mistakes or misjudgments or miscalculations in mind. Otherwise, the most beautiful structure will collapse.

We should review meticulously what we have done in the past. Then we must figure out the actions and events that turned out to be unfavourable. After this we must think about what might and should have been done. We must move onto analyze our lacking then. After the analysis, we must put together a corrective action plan. With this set plan we should then take our steps in deciding what we will do to make our next resolutions. However, our job does not particularly finish right there. We must see through that we do what we have promised to ourselves to do.

It is indeed a good practice starting afresh and showing optimism. But in my opinion it is equally imprudent not to scan through the past and take lesson from it. The best gift of the past is the experience. As the most intelligent living being in this planet, it is our task that we use our experience. Hence before making any new year's resolution, please review the year that is about to pass. Because, the more you review the more you will learn and the less misjudgment you will make and the happier your life will be.

Happy New Year!
(9th batch, Department of Accounting & Information Systems, University of Dhaka)