Select a region
Predicting the future is usually the preserve of astrologists and those who still make a living from reading palms and tarot cards - for us mere mortals it is often better to take each day at a time rather than relying on the dubious predictions of others.
However, it is inevitable that the broadsheet newspapers, broadcast journalists and others, will seek to look back over 2021, consider what might be coming our way in the year ahead, and warn us all to be prepared and ready.
The money advice websites and various other online guidance is ever ready to help us plan our financial future, and in particular due to rising interest rates, the financial experts will be very willing to suggest for those with mortgages or thinking of taking one out in the new year, to consider carefully their professional advice.
Pictured: "We have now at our fingertips guidance and advice for every aspect of daily living."
We have now at our fingertips guidance and advice for every aspect of daily living, fitness regimes and diet plans will be pushed in front of our eyes and the world of advertising and marketing will be as ever, working flat out on behalf of their clients to convince us all, what we should be doing, buying, engaging with and not doing in 2022.
I have been reading just in the last few days about the lives of all those famous faces that have been ‘lost’ in 2021. So-called celebrities and others who have died with a brief précis about their lives and contributions to their professions by way of tribute.
Perhaps one or two of those who died in 2021 standout above all others, for example HRH Prince Phillip The Duke of Edinburgh or Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Both men certainly lived long and very full lives and the contributions they made in their various endeavours are considerable.
Others, less well known perhaps, may not be seen as having had or lived lives of such significance but still feature on the pages with the ‘famous’ or ‘well known’ and still worthy of reading.
Pictured: For Mr Wareing Jones, among the personalities who died in 2021, HRH Prince Phillip The Duke of Edinburgh stands out above others along with Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
The political journalists are of course already focussing on what the various political leaders did in the last year or failed to do, and they too will be making predictions as to chances of survival or not of the main players in the year ahead!
Very soon here in Jersey the politicians will be very busy formulating their campaigns in readiness for the General Election in June. Opponents of course will be highlighting the failures of former colleagues as they seek to promote their worth as better replacements at the top table, The Council of Ministers. No doubt there are those already predicting the result of the forthcoming election but this can hardly be taken seriously anymore than the reading of tarot cards or palms.
It has been written that "The most important task of any political leader is to sustain hope - the hope for justice including the possibility of a better life".
As I continued with my reading about the lives of those lost to us in 2021, it was the contribution made to society as a whole of Desmond Tutu that really made me stop and think.
In seeking truth and reconciliation after the awful apartheid years in South Africa, Desmond Tutu embodied what some of the worlds great religions call, ‘The Golden Rule’. This is the notion that each of us should hold the interests of our fellow human beings as dear to us as our own.
Pictured: "Desmond Tutu embodied what some of the worlds great religions call, ‘The Golden Rule’. This is the notion that each of us should hold the interests of our fellow human beings as dear to us as our own."
Perhaps as we look forward to the new year, it might be better for us all to plan less and focus more on the needs of others rather than worry too much about the guidance and advice we will be bombarded with as 2022 begins to unfold.
Learning how to live well in the days ahead and making resolutions have their place but in the end, is it not also wise to live the day we are living first and leave tomorrow well alone?
