On October 25, Qatar formally launched its bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games. It is the first Middle Eastern country to volunteer itself to host the premier sporting championships. The night was celebrated with revelry and capped by a fireworks display. However, it wasn’t the celebration or the bid itself that struck me most. It was the logo and the theme behind it that got my attention.
The main logo is a representation of the aldahma flower but for those who know how to read Arabic, the logo is a calligraphy of the phrase “Doha 2016”. The theme is “Celebrating change”. As soon as I heard the theme, a question popped into my mind: “Do we really celebrate change?”
Change is often met with doubt, uncertainty, anxiety, fear and other negative feelings. It may be met with enthusiasm at first but when hard choices related to that change start to unravel then uncertainty sets in and confidence wanes. So why celebrate change?
The day after the launch, some expats here were already having mixed feelings regarding the bid. Although many were rooting for Doha to get the IOC nod for this once in a lifetime event, still many were worried about the increase in rent, worsening of traffic and rise in cost of many basic commodities this effort will bring. Fresh in the mind of many was the situation caused by Qatar's hosting of the recent Asian Games. Many hoped rents and food prices will go down after the games but it never happened. Thus to many this bid was not a cause for celebration. Change really brings the best and worst in people.
The main logo is a representation of the aldahma flower but for those who know how to read Arabic, the logo is a calligraphy of the phrase “Doha 2016”. The theme is “Celebrating change”. As soon as I heard the theme, a question popped into my mind: “Do we really celebrate change?”
Change is often met with doubt, uncertainty, anxiety, fear and other negative feelings. It may be met with enthusiasm at first but when hard choices related to that change start to unravel then uncertainty sets in and confidence wanes. So why celebrate change?
The day after the launch, some expats here were already having mixed feelings regarding the bid. Although many were rooting for Doha to get the IOC nod for this once in a lifetime event, still many were worried about the increase in rent, worsening of traffic and rise in cost of many basic commodities this effort will bring. Fresh in the mind of many was the situation caused by Qatar's hosting of the recent Asian Games. Many hoped rents and food prices will go down after the games but it never happened. Thus to many this bid was not a cause for celebration. Change really brings the best and worst in people.
In my life, there have been a lot of changes. The first big change I can remember was when I first went to school. I was a brash, confident young lad but with a real love of studies. Then came my decision to enter the seminary, not really sure if I wanted to be a priest but I wanted to find out. After several years I found out that it was not a life for me and I left the seminary. However, I immediately found out that secular life was a bit too fast and too worldly a life for me and I struggled to keep balance for myself. I was trying not to be a loner but also not go into the happy-go-lucky man of the world. It was a hard and trying time but somehow I went through it and managed to keep my balance.
My first job was a big change for me as well. It was my first taste of independence. I wasn’t taking any allowance from my parents and I had my salary all to myself. I could sustain my own vices and I can buy whatever I want if I can afford it. My decision to leave that company and try to join a multinational company was another big change. I was being offered a supervisory role but I deemed this new company had a better culture. And indeed it had and I stayed 16 years in this new company.
But then things didn’t go well during the last years of my stay in the company. For the first time in my life I was experiencing burn out. My salary was getting my family nowhere and my career was in hiatus. I was asked to “dance to the music” so my career will go somewhere. But I’d rather keep my dignity intact than dance to their tune of musical chairs. It was a nerve racking decision but I did it and now I am here.
However, the most important change in my life is my decision to have a family. It was the biggest decision because it affected not only my life but another else’s life. All these years changes have only affected me but this time it was a change that affected the lives of two people – me and my wife. And with the birth of our son, then this change now affects a third life. This is the biggest change in my life because from then on every decision has to take into consideration two other innocent lives.
Change is always there in our lives. Whether we meet it with fear and doubt or embrace it wholeheartedly with enthusiasm and hope is really up to us. Looking back into my life I could say that there were a lot of changes I dealt with anxiety and negative feelings and there were those that I embraced with excitement. I now believe that each part of life has prepared me for what I face today and whatever struggles I may face tomorrow. For instance, my life in the seminary has prepared me for a life of an OFW.
And going back to theme of Doha’s application to host the Olympics, I agree that we should celebrate change because with each change we only get wiser and stronger. We should embrace it and nourish it. After all, the only constant in this world is change.
My first job was a big change for me as well. It was my first taste of independence. I wasn’t taking any allowance from my parents and I had my salary all to myself. I could sustain my own vices and I can buy whatever I want if I can afford it. My decision to leave that company and try to join a multinational company was another big change. I was being offered a supervisory role but I deemed this new company had a better culture. And indeed it had and I stayed 16 years in this new company.
But then things didn’t go well during the last years of my stay in the company. For the first time in my life I was experiencing burn out. My salary was getting my family nowhere and my career was in hiatus. I was asked to “dance to the music” so my career will go somewhere. But I’d rather keep my dignity intact than dance to their tune of musical chairs. It was a nerve racking decision but I did it and now I am here.
However, the most important change in my life is my decision to have a family. It was the biggest decision because it affected not only my life but another else’s life. All these years changes have only affected me but this time it was a change that affected the lives of two people – me and my wife. And with the birth of our son, then this change now affects a third life. This is the biggest change in my life because from then on every decision has to take into consideration two other innocent lives.
Change is always there in our lives. Whether we meet it with fear and doubt or embrace it wholeheartedly with enthusiasm and hope is really up to us. Looking back into my life I could say that there were a lot of changes I dealt with anxiety and negative feelings and there were those that I embraced with excitement. I now believe that each part of life has prepared me for what I face today and whatever struggles I may face tomorrow. For instance, my life in the seminary has prepared me for a life of an OFW.
And going back to theme of Doha’s application to host the Olympics, I agree that we should celebrate change because with each change we only get wiser and stronger. We should embrace it and nourish it. After all, the only constant in this world is change.
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