Dragonfly by Jax Hill 

Torstein continued with his speech ...

“There are two kinds of people in the world outside tonight. People who are desperate to make these final few minutes of this year memorable, and people who have given up on ever having any memorable moments in their lives. But in here, tonight, I think there are people who are ready to discover the secret that every moment can be memorable. But that it doesn’t take cold beer, hot sex, a big bank account, a fast car or TV fame to make moments matter.

“Right now, I’m challenging you to make the final moments of this year memorable by looking inside, at what really matters, and deciding whether the year to come is going to be different than the year that’s passing. I’m challenging anyone who has ever heard Auld Lang Sine playing and wondered, ‘Is that all there is?’ I’m talking to anyone who has ever thrown up or passed out in a place you never saw before on any long ago New Year’s Eve and started your new year with a crushing hangover. I’m talking to everyone who spent last New Year’s Eve asleep on the sofa or staring at the TV ...

“And I’m telling you: you were right. Those moments weren’t memorable. Those moments don’t matter. What those people outside here think they’re doing — either to seize the final minutes of the year and force them to be fun, or to steadfastly ignore that this night is any different from any other night — they’re both wrong! The real truth is: this night is different, but not because it’s the last night of the year and we’re all in a frenzy to have a hubba-hey good time. It’s different because this is the night you’re hearing something that can change everything for you.

“I don’t want anything from you. If you want to be friends, I want that too. If you don’t, that’s okay. But I promised you something intense, and here it is, take it or leave it.”

The audience was hanging on every word. I was hanging on every word! It was as if he knew what I’d been thinking about New Year’s Eve — and how stupid it is — all along.

“Everything you’ve ever heard about how the world works is wrong. Here’s the truth: if you’re poor, you’re happy, because the kingdom of God is yours. If you’re hungry, you’re happy, because you will have the greatest satisfaction in being filled. If you’re crying now, you’re happy — because your inheritance is laughter, eternally. If you’re hated, you’re happy; if you’re outcast, you’re happy. Because God’s best business is with the hated, the outcast, the marginalized.

“I know it doesn’t make sense. But this can be your awakening moment, here, in the heart of the city, on the last night of the year. Because while what I’m saying doesn’t make sense, it is the truth. And here’s the greatest truth:

“You are made in the image of God. And God is love. So your image is love. And love is older and stronger than hate. Good is older and stronger than evil. When you meet evil and you meet hatred, you have the very thing that can whip them — and it isn’t more hatred, and it isn’t more evil. It’s love.”