This is (and still is) a year of epic proportions. A year filled with atmospheric intensity, martial instability and fiscal unpredictability. This is a year where people from all walks of life confront challenges of different faces hard enough to recognize. Today is 31 December and with little over 5 hours left before we bid adieu to what is considered to be a trying 2014.

Indeed, 2014 is unlike that of its predecessors. 2013 was bad – while 2012, 2011 and so on paled in comparison to what’s going on right now. 2014… well, it’s like dealing with a whole different animal. If you were to paint a picture of it, you would end up with a Jackson Pollock hodgepodge as opposed to a John Register photorealism. The events that unfolded (and still unfolding) have tipped the scales on what is a momentous year.

2014 saw Supertyphoon Hagupit, the MV Sewol capsizing, the Ebola outbreak, the annexation of Crimea, the sudden recession in Japan, the Sony hacking and among others took place. But what’s particularly distinctive is it makes aviation industry front and center with the missing flight 370, the downing of flight 17 in Ukraine airspace, the ‘nut-gate’ and now (currently) another missing flight 8501. 2014 brought us down to our knees.

As we look back, we will try to reflect on what are the things and the values that matters to us. We will try to shed little by little the anxieties that the year brought us and focus on creating a protective mental shield to put a braver attitude to what’s already the new normal of today’s reality. A braver attitude to face 2015.

Someone once said, “Every time history repeats itself, the price of the lesson goes up.” And in line with that thinking, let’s try to keep the lessons we’ve learned this year in parallel to how we see new things as they take shape.

As the next few hours start fleeting by, we will be leaving 2014 behind. It will then become a part of the past that creeps in from behind us from time to time – like a ghost that never rests. And as for the future that’s right in front of us – well... we’ll never know. We’ll just have to keep a close watch on that!

For now, let’s take a moment of reflection for the next few hours offline. Bask in to what remains of 2014 before we hit the restart button for 2015.

Signing off for now – catch up with you in 2015. And before I forget – let me wish you a better, healthier and brighter new year ahead of you!

As a parting gift, I’ll leave you with music’s gift to humanity –


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Photo credit: Google images