It was the first day of Spring, March 20, 2012 – the Vernal Equinox. CBC’s “Q” came over the airwaves with the salutation “Happy Nowruz”, inviting us to entertain a thought. Nowruz means new day. Nowruz is the Persian New Year, which falls on the Vernal Equinox. Termed a, “secular celebration of inclusiveness, peace, light, family and rebirth.”
Although this has been celebrated for over 3000 years primarily in various countries throughout Asia, today, where our world has grown so large that it has become smaller, we are all coming to the realization that we are all connected, we are one. What happens anywhere initiates ripples and happens here.
Our histories are long and regardless of origin we have all wronged and been wronged. We seem to forget this. We become so consumed with our own personal strife, believing we are owed – an apology, land, money, retribution. We carry our wounds, our victim status from one day into the next, handing down a legacy of struggle and pain from generation to generation.
We give validation to annihilation, ostracizing, atrocities, wars, holocaust, with determination and dedication that they not be forgotten and therefore not repeated. And yet in our remembering we do just that, we repeat, we continue to destroy, demean, denounce one another.
We think if we let go and release our pain, our wound, what has been wronged will be for nothing, it will have been a lie and so we hang on. To hang on is to remain a victim, where we must continue to be victimized. To remain a victim is a slow death. I believe we are not meant to die this way. I believe we are meant to live – to live whole, healthy and strong. When we relive the old, we miss out on living the new. New Days are upon. Change is in the air – our weather patterns, our technology, our belief systems and attitudes, our DNA, our children. May we strive to live, each day; as a new day.
You may wonder, why I’m writing this now and not on March 20th. I needed time. The moment CBC shared Nowruz I felt what I have written, and yet, I chose to sit with it and just allow myself to absorb it. I want Nowruz to stay with me. I want each day I rise to take a moment, where I consciously embrace Nowruz. The day is new and may I practice being right here – in this day – this new day.
Happy Nowruz to all.