January ushers in an ‘entry to new beginnings’

Welcome to 2025 and the month of January, named after the Roman god Janus. 

He represented both the past and the future as “the god of gates and doorways, the entry to new beginnings,” said Dr. Jamesetta A. Newland (shown below) , a nursing consultant based in New York City.

Janus is often depicted as a two-headed god with one face looking forward and the other face looking backward.”

 

One human who exhibited a similar trait was the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose Jan. 15 birthday is observed in the United States as a federal holiday on the third Monday of the month, Dr. Newland said. 

“Particularly appropriate for nurse practitioners as we start 2025 is remembering successes of the past while always recognizing challenges of the future.” Dr. Newland cited Dr. King’s quotation: “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhumane.”

Dr. Newland continued: “Professional nurses are critically positioned and ready to promote prevention and wellness over illness and cure; increase access to health care for vulnerable populations; improve health outcomes for individuals with chronic diseases; address mental and behavioral health needs of people; address the social determinants of health to reduce health disparities in our communities; and confront structural racism to disable deep-rooted barriers to health equity.”

In another vein, the Rev. Dr. Ernest S. Lyght of Delanco, N.J. (shown below), a retired bishop of the United Methodist Church, is the author of an essay, “Martin Luther King, Jr.: Looking Back & Looking Forward.”

 

In it, Dr. Lyght wrote: “Dr. King bequeathed America and the world with an abundant legacy. First, he helped the black church understand that it could partner with other community organizations in the struggle for righteousness and justice. Second, Dr. King dared to invite the children and youth to participate in the civil rights demonstrations. Third, he taught his followers to employ the instrument of nonviolent resistance in the face of ‘many dangers, toils and snares.’ Fourth, Dr. King preached the ideal of ‘love’ and lived by the standard of Christian love.

“Fifth, Dr. King also did not compartmentalize his efforts,” Dr. Lyght wrote. “While he waged the fight for civil rights, he was engaged in the peace movement. Although severely criticized, he did not shrink from his commitment to ending segregation as well as the war in Vietnam. Some critics, both black and white, felt that he should stay out of the peace movement. King could not do anything else, because he was a ‘drum major for justice.’”

“Sixth, Dr. King was a man of prayer. We generally remember him for his inspiring oratory. Behind the scenes, however, his personal prayer life gave him strength for the journey,” Dr. Lyght added.  

 

On April 4, 1968, Dr. King was in Memphis, Tenn., to lead a demonstration on behalf of sanitation workers who were on strike for higher wages. “It was there that King was assassinated,” Dr. Lyght said.

“Note, however, that on the previous night, Dr. King had told the gathered congregation that God had allowed him to go up to the mountain. He told them that he had looked over and he caught a glimpse of the Promised Land. He believed that all of the people would one day get to the Promised Land.”

“Because Dr. King lived among us, America is not the same,” Dr. Lyght wrote. “He was a moral leader who made a difference in his nation and the world. He was a leader who helped the nation and the world to look forward to a better future.”