Time, where has it gone? Seems like it was only yesterday we heard gongxi gongxi blaring in the shopping malls and pasar malam pirated CD music stalls.

Two weeks into the new year, some of us are still working on amending last year's errors with newer resolutions. But resolutions, they soon become another list of unfulfilled wishes to be revisited at the year's end. So, the cycle continues.

What if life is lived with no calendars, no dates, no new year? We'll plod on in the mundane turn of time, guided by the stars - and seasons if you're in the temperate zones. No deadlines to keep. No deadlines to meet. No social customs bounded by time. Just life, lived one day at a time.

But we're creatures of habit. With each new year, we review how we've used up another 12-month lease on life.

Some of us are thankful it's over as last year was despairingly imperfect. So, we wish against the undying wish to revive old desires, muse over what it was, take on what it is, and dream of what it can be.

With each new year, we age and become more familiar with life. And the years, they seem to get shorter.

When we were kids, the years were long when we were in a hurry to grow up, to feel the first kiss and intimacy. Once we're past 40, we become more reflective. And when you're past 50, the obituary pages seem to become more relevant readings.

Latest statistics show a Malaysian average life span is 75 years. Which leaves some of us with not much time to do what we wish to do to leave our mark.

Defining moments

For many who were marginalised from the opportunity structure, life just sucks, their full potential left unexplored and untried. They pin their hopes on their children, who may make it good if luck holds them up under the current racialised system of opportunities. That would be the day.

But it's not impossible that system change will happen. That'd be the defining moment, Malaysia Boleh bearing real fruits.

Yes, we each have our defining moments - like when we witness our first child being born or a loved one dying; that first breathtaking kiss or that last wrenching break-up. In the good moments, time fleets by. In the bad moments, time drags on. But "time heals" as they say. What reason cannot fathom, time can.

Who'd imagine the Soviet Union would ever give up Communism. A non-bumiputera prime minister of Malaysia? One can dream the possible.

What do we wish for 2007? We can resolve to treasure time than waste it on activities that divide rather than bridge communities. Such as excessive consumerism. Idle chatter. And being a kiasu . What better wish than a wish to live well.

I'm reminded of one of life's irony in John Denver's composition. "I want to live, I want to grow; I want to see I want to know; I want to share what I can give, I want to live, I want to live." Denver died in a plane crash long before his time is up.

It's time to count our blessings for each day we receive. May peace and contentment rule our time.