January 1st , 2009

Ebot ama afeghe itok nnuk ase agwot edem (When the goat runs, its horns always point backwards)

During a house call as a pastor of a church in the United States I spoke with a thirty-year old lady who was struggling with a problem. Her father had recently died and she was in a relationship with a man that the mother did not approve. During a recent outing with the man she was planning to marry the mother called the police and reported her missing. The mother gave the description of the man and the car she was riding in as a way to get the man arrested and disrupt the date. The lady found herself between a rock and a hard place and when I called that afternoon to see her and the mother it was obvious that a solution had to be found. The woman had lots of options including moving out of the family home but she decided to stay with her mother. She confessed that a relocation would be too much strain and disruption on her plans. As she walked with me to the car she said something that was profound: “I have a goal for my life and whatever my mother is doing, it is a mere distraction.”

Whatever that goal was, it must have been serious enough for her to overlook what appeared like a storm. It reminded me of the saying that forms today’s reflection: when the goat runs, its horns always point backwards. Our forebears must have used this saying to remind each other that with a goal in mind and a plan for the future, whatever is not necessary for the achievement of such stated goal must be relegated to the background. A bellicose attitude that does not contribute to progress is more likely to get in the way. Past hurts must be kept in the past if the future race must be won.

It takes a lot of time to nurse old wounds and having past pains as a compass for the future only reminds us about what to fear in the present. We can learn from the past without living in the past. As we move from the old year into the new, I am sure that there are certain issues that you dealt with in the past year but such experience should not result in fear but should be something to learn from. The English writer, Charles Lamb, wrote in the seventeenth century that New Year’s Day is every man’s birthday. For more than three hundred years what he wrote still holds true for the day is a testimony that it is possible to begin again. Rather than begin with impossible resolutions, resolve that you will begin anew all what you left undone in the old year. Resolve that you will run the race that is left without the acrimonies that seem to stand in the way of your goals. Pledge to leave behind unnecessary bickering and the tools that are capable of tearing down human relationships and cooperation. Our forebears knew that the goat is able to run forward and faster because it cares very little about its horns in the process. Fighting instruments and attitude are useless where the goal is the achievement of cooperation and personal growth. This is wishing you wisdom, wealth and strength of grace in the New Year.

From the Board of Directors and members of Annang Heritage Preservation Inc. around the world. have a save and happy New Year!

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