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RESOLUTIONS VS REVOLUTION
Kathlyn Q. Barrozo
Class of 1991, University of Santo Tomas
B.S. Medical Technology
It’s almost that time of year again when people from all walks of life try to make an assessment of the year that
has just passed and ask themselves: What should I change in me? Personally, I have been a frequent maker of
resolutions at the start of every New Year. The funny thing though is that I am also one among the many who
easily breaks their resolutions, which have been carefully set to be fulfilled at the onset, during the first quarter
of the year or earlier.
Why do we trouble ourselves making those resolutions anyway? The answer lies in the enticing nature of
challenges. We are all geared, more or less, to the unthinkable. We find the unknowable quite fascinating. So
we go on and make resolutions regardless of whether we have every intention of keeping them. Resolutions
are things that make us hopeful for better things to come if we are able to keep them. Failure is just a small
part of the framework of making resolutions.
Revolutionary people, on the other hand, have a healthy respect for reforms and are willing to go the extra
mile to have those reforms implemented. These individuals act on the changes, not wait around for someone
else to do it for them. For such people, a change will never happen if they do not instigate it. Such people are
to be emulated, and supported if need be. They keep the cycle of life forever moving, the wheels of change
constantly oiled and running. These are people who mean NOW when they say now. They have a firm belief in
their principles, and are never too weak to give up so easily. Such people are what we should strive to be.
When you make a resolution during the coming year, make your last resolution a promise to keep all your
resolutions. Commit to what you are sure you can do, never beyond. Promising to do something undoable
would just give you too many disappointments, so focus your sights on something smaller, more manageable,
something more doable. This way, you do not set yourself up for too many disappointments along the way.
Setting your sights too high may cause too many miscalculations. Remember the story of Daedalus and Icarus?
Daedalus and his son Icarus were imprisoned in a very high tower. Daedalus studied how the birds flew, and
decided to craft wings for himself and his son. He patiently collected the feathers that fell from the birds each
day, and when he had collected enough, fashioned them into wings. This story does not have a happy ending
though, but let it teach us that change is easy if we take the initial steps, no matter how small they may be. We
all have to start somewhere.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
1. Have you got a list of New Year’s resolutions? Talk about them in class.
2. Why are resolutions so easy to make but so hard to keep?
3. Which resolutions are always the easiest for you to keep?
4. Be able to tell the story of Daedalus and Icarus in class. What lessons did you learn from the story, if any?
5. Why does change have to come from within? Explain your answer in detail.