Everyone reading these words is blessed, because it has been possible for us to live until the end of 2013 and the start of 2014 in peace. Whether we are healthy or ill, we can all say we have also been a part of the hierarchy of those who make history.
The year 2013 was a year of elections. Every adult citizen of the Czech Republic was able to directly influence his or her – our – future and the direction of this society.
The stand each of us takes on that opportunity is a personal matter, but whatever your stance, your decision influenced the lives of all of us. As for the New Year, it is traditionally a time for us to embark upon certain changes in our lives, sometimes achievable aims such as ridding ourselves of bad habits, mostly wishes that we can somehow influence, setting aside those things we cannot control, such as our health, our luck, the weather, our wins and losses, etc.
This has prompted me to stop and reflect upon a particularly achievable, realistic, realizable and universal aim. Our society is burdened with various sociopathological phenomena, starting with unemployment and ending with crime, drug addiction, racism, suicide and violence.
All of these negative phenomena have a common denominator. That common denominator is poverty.
Overcoming poverty should eliminate these various pathological phenomena. I would therefore like to express the wish that after we close the door on the old year, all of society will join the fight against poverty in this country in the new year.
The Czech economy is by no means one of the worst-off in the world, and greater societal monitoring of public expenditures could be a significant step toward overcoming poverty here. After that, it will be up to each of us to build happiness in our own lives.
