WHEN ONE DOOR CLOSES...

 

At the end of the calendar year, I tend to look back and review the previous twelve months, weighing their positive or negative impact on my life. This year, I have resolved to adopt a realistically positive outlook on events, and, to bolster that resolve, I have turned to proverbs and refranes. I found one that suits my purpose perfectly: When one door closes, another opens. I document it with a citation from New Zealand: “He’ll be sadly missed if it is the end, no doubt about that, but as one door shuts another opens, so we’ll press on” (Harnesslink, 4 Feb 2004).

To paraphrase Hermann Hesse, we must take the time and trouble to strengthen ourselves against fear, to combat the dread of the unknown and of the future, and to sustain a belief in tomorrow. Si una puerta se cierra, ciento se abren (or otra se abre), and experience has taught me that many doors will close in 2026; yet I firmly believe that many others will open. Hope and cheerfulness are well captured by Fernando de Rojas in La Celestina (1499): “… que quando una puerta se cierra, otra suele abrir la Fortuna, y este mal, aunque duro, se soldará.”