Reflecting on 2023’s pain, joy, and way forward
We all crave a story with a gratifying conclusion, don’t we? A tale where the sun breaks through the storm clouds, painting a rainbow across our collective skies. Perhaps, in the final lines of 2023, we might find such an ending.
I hope, with a touch of cautious optimism, that if these words reach you, they echo in a time of reconciliation and renewal. Knowing that so many of us yearn for a world where estranged families and friends knit themselves back together. A world where children don’t recognize the sounds of bombs, nor the pains of hunger. A world where the essence of our humanity, or what we dared to call humanity, becomes restored, if it ever truly existed.
In both my moments of pain and beauty in 2023, I somehow always found myself landing at the same thought: What a peculiar and vast cosmos we inhabit.
Ours is a universe, expansive and uncharted. And I suppose my mind wanders into consideration of it when I’m having the most trouble reconciling the things we so often do as humans. We float, like isolated islands, in this vastness, these uncharted waters of space, each island brimming with its own tales of joy and despair, of love and loss. Most of us, never truly understanding that in the grand scale, our individual lives are but fleeting moments, whispers in the winds of time.
If more of us did realize this, maybe the human experience would not be so perplexing. Maybe the human experience would be filled with far more grace.
How can it be, in this limited time we are given, that we find the capacity to inflict such grievous wounds upon one another? We contain a boundless ability to feel and to empathize, which is juxtaposed cruelly with our equally boundless propensity for indifference and brutality. We, who are capable of touching the stars, of unraveling the mysteries of atoms, still grapple with the primitive instincts of greed and hatred.
If there was ever a year to sit with these sorts of thoughts, it was 2023. Much like a weary traveler, this year found itself at a crossroads of tragedy and turmoil. It was a year that bore the heavy cloak of sorrow, woven with threads of confusion and dyed in the deep colors of rage. This fabric of despair was not confined to any single place; it was both a local and global garment, worn by many and witnessed by more.
No one, in good faith, can deny that this year was like a guest overstaying its welcome in the small, cramped apartment of our lives. Not when the streets whisper such tales of loss—the kind that doesn’t merely speak of absence, but of a profound emptiness, a void where once there was the vibrant energy of life. Homes and hearts alike were left hollow, haunted by the memories of what was and the aching question of what could have been. The shared soul of humanity seemed to be in mourning, grieving for the innocence lost and the peace that seemed ever elusive.
Over these twelve months, I often imagined myself running into the distance, my legs pumping, my heart racing, fleeing from this year as if I could outrun time itself.
But preparing for the year to end, I asked myself, what am I running to that I can’t already find around me if I look hard enough? It is a question that bears the weight of the soul, for in our constant pursuit of something beyond the horizon, something better, we often overlook the riches that lie at our feet.
Yes, this year was filled with suffering, yes it was filled with confusion, yes it was filled with sorrow—but was there not also joy and hope? We have been creatures burdened by the weight of our tragedies, but for us to still march forward shows that we have also been creatures of an innate capacity to soar towards more than that.
Just days ago, in the waning lights of this tumultuous year, many of you extended your hands in generosity, a gesture that bore the unmistakable signature of love. We embarked on an endeavor, a simple yet profound act of giving—toys for the innocent, books for the curious, and sustenance for the hungry. Over 200 families found a moment of joy, a flicker of warmth in the cold, relentless march of their everyday struggles. This act of kindness, this small rebellion against despair, came after a year where over a thousand other families were also touched by similar gestures of solidarity and care from our other efforts.
Indeed, there lies a fracture in the very heart of humanity, a crack that sometimes seems too wide to bridge. Yet, these moments demonstrate that in these very crevices, in these fragmented spaces, humanity is not just surviving; it is thriving.
This year was not merely a testament to our suffering, but also our connection — our community. My faith has also been fortified knowing that thousands of you have read my books, my essays, my vessels of thought and feeling, attempts to reach out across the void, to touch lives, and stir souls. People from all walks of life are reading this, walking together, as fellow travelers on this complex journey of understanding and being. This reminds us that we are not alone.
In this age, where the digital expanse seems to stretch us thin, pulling us into a myriad of directions, making us more distant, more isolated, it is astonishing how some of us are finding ways to become closer than ever. We are forging bonds that transcend the conventional boundaries of space and time, creating communities of empathy and progress that will last even when we have returned to dust.
The days of 2023 will not be neatly packed away in the attic of history. They will linger, a murmur beneath the surface of our freshly painted aspirations. This truth, is like the last notes of a song long ended—the understanding that our sorrows, our struggles, do not vanish at the stroke of midnight. They are the unseen companions of our journey, as integral to our narrative as the blood coursing through our veins. The aches and bruises of the year past are not aberrations; they are the very essence of the human condition.
Yet, in this unyielding march forward, there is a profound revelation to be had, a clarity that often eludes us in the noise of our daily existence. The realizations that what we strive for, the peace we seek, the understanding we crave—these are not distant stars to be reached, but rather the soil beneath our feet, the air in our lungs, the horizon that meets our gaze at every turn. They are in the familiar contours of our everyday world, in the quiet moments that we too often let slip by unnoticed.
The very things and people we seek to sustain us are everywhere around us, waiting to be discovered, waiting to be remembered.
As we step into the unknown realm of 2024 and future years, let us carry this understanding with us. The pains and joys of our years are not left behind; they are part of us, guiding us, reminding us of the depth and breadth of our human experience. In this recognition lies our strength, our hope, and perhaps, our salvation.
May we bid farewell to this year realizing that the gratifying conclusions to our stories are always around us, with us, waiting on us, just beyond the veil of our pain.
Happy New Year, friends.
Frederick Joseph is a freelance writer and best-selling author. You can find him on Substack.
