ed Carpe diem 2016

Ring in New Year with added spirit of challenge

From the perspective of historian Arnold Toynbee, history can be a succession of challenges and responses. If 2015 can serve as any indication, anyone who holds on to this advice will be left behind, never gaining a chance to get ahead and lead the pack.

So, an obvious alternative is to reverse this process and prepare in anticipation of what challenges are coming. Depending on whether we succeed in this new experiment, chances are that 2016 will be happy or unhappy. Don’t take Happy New Year for granted but let’s make the effort to make it one.

Anticipating what’s in store is everybody’s business. Sometimes, it is about the nation’s future and other times it’s about what’s important for individuals.

Outstanding on the diplomatic front is the recent controversial gentlemen’s agreement with Japan on the former comfort women who were forced into sexual slavery for Japanese imperial soldiers. Can we do the two things at the same time: deal with the past, without losing momentum to go forward? This proves to be the ultimate test for this country to pass to become a truly mature nation.

Another vexing issue is North Korea, a constant key adverse factor of the Korea Discount. It is under the rule of the unpredictable but calculative 32-year-old dictator, Kim Jong-un, who machineguns political enemies and is bragging about developing hydrogen bombs.

Should we stand by and watch his tyranny or force him to make changes? The latter should be our choice and it behooves us to start working on it immediately.

On the domestic front, the general election slated for April is set to affect the nation’s political narrative for the crucial next four years. Again, voters should act as judge and jury through ballot boxes to reward or punish politicians on their performance.

For President Park, it’s time for her to decide what sort of legacy she wants to be remembered for. Her reform agenda is unfinished and dissatisfaction over her unilateral rule is apparently rising. But popularity ebbs and flows so she should do what she believes in the way she thinks best. That doesn’t mean tuning out opposing views and only listening selectively to supporters.

Economically, it will likely be a tough year due to the slowing Chinese economy and the effects of the key rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve as well as Korea’s huge household debt.

But we have a large sum of foreign reserves with corporations sitting on piles of cash with limited exposure. If the economy is as much about numbers as it is psychology, all we need is have the positives defeat the negatives.

Bringing it down to the individual level and beating challenges in advance is about reinventing yourselves.

So be curious, don’t be afraid and take a chance. The New Year is yours to lose and bear in mind that there will be no second 2016 so enjoy it as if you will never have it again. Happy New Year!