Dear readers, the new year is finally here. As we welcome 2025, we are greeted with a sense of renewed energy and vigor.
I often wonder, what is it about the New Year that ushers in a sense of renewed energy and promise of starting something great. After all, it's just another day. Another date in the calendar. The numbers might have changed, yet we remain the same individuals. Then what is it that makes New Year's a special occasion?
There might be no definitive answer to these questions. Yet, the truth remains that as human beings we are hopeful creatures. We look for meaning in everything. We look for a sense of higher purpose even in the most unremarkable things. Then why must the new year be any different?
When the sun rises every morning, it brings with it the hope of a new beginning. Similarly, the sun rising on a new year brings in the sense of new beginnings, new goals, new hopes et all.
So as 2025 begins, I am deciding to keep all cynicism aside and approach the new year with a sense of belief.
As the new year begins, I also have on my mind a few remarkable women, from whom I would want to draw inspiration in 2025 and beyond.
Gisèle Pelicot is one of them. The end of 2024 was marred by great anguish as the world saw Gisèle fight a legal battle against her ex-husband on charges that ran a shiver down my spine. It was divine justice when her harassers were given harsh and swift punishments.
However, what moved the world more was Gisèle’s steely determination and grace. ‘Shame must change sides’; this was the overarching message of Gisèle’s legal battle that she chose to fight openly. She did not wish to remain anonymous. She ensured that her tormentors were unmasked in public. The shame was theirs, not hers.
For years the world will remember the 72-year-old French woman who fought for the wrongs done to her with grace and grit. From her, I would like to learn courage. The path might be tough, and filled with unknown obstacles, yet when one is right, one must fight the battle for justice.
This new year my mind is also occupied by the harsh situations that women are enduring under the Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan. Day after day, the world wakes up to new news about another basic right being taken away from the women of Afghanistan. They have been denied the right to education, employment, access to public spaces, or even healthcare. Afghan women were prohibited from having their voices heard in public spaces. Their voices have been taken away, literally and figuratively.
It pains me to think of the hardships these women must be undergoing. It also makes me hyper-aware of the privileges that women such as myself have been bestowed upon. In 2025 I hope to be more mindful of the voice that I possess and to use it to the best of my abilities. Women who have the privilege to express their voices must speak for those who cannot. We must come together to build a world where no woman has to suffer the atrocities at the hands of patriarchy.
Here’s to using our voices and being courageous in the new year.
Do tell us what are you thinking this new year.
