As the clock struck 12 on December 31, 2014, New Year celebrations all over the globe got underway. New Zealand, being the first major country to celebrate, witnessed magnificent pyrotechnics embracing the sky from the Sky Tower. Sydney came in next with eye-popping fireworks over the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge where people had been flocking long before sunset.

Tokyo released hundreds of helium balloons setting its celebrations apart from the rest of the world as did China with no fireworks either. The sky turning orange around the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye deserves a special mention.

City after city bustled with life and every spark rose in the sky signifying the world’s hopes and dreams for the New Year and then vanished into nothingness, symbolising the end of the previous year’s sorrows. Disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, Ebola, kidnapping of girls from northeastern Nigerian school, Peshawar attack are some of the many tragedies that the world suffered in 2014. Despite the sorrows, the world bade 2014 adieu with felicity, zeal and in style.

After having followed festivities over the globe all day, I was left with one question. What about Pakistan -- a country with diversity so immense that seemed an obstacle in the independence movement? Pakistan had its own share of calamity and woe in 2014 with floods, the Model Town incident, sit-ins, crossborder firing, the Wagah Border blast and, finally, the deadly Peshawar attack. One might ask, do we not deserve flying lanterns at Hawke’s Bay? Or indulging pyrotechnics at Minar-e-Pakistan? Anything that would enable our people to gather at one place, enjoy food and sway to good music?

Instead, I saw people around town resorting to aerial firing which killed some and injured many; boys riding bikes without silencers and performing stunts around the city, jeopardising not only theirs but others’ lives, too. Two deaths were reported on the first day of 2015 because they were driving bikes on one wheel while six boys were wounded seriously when their bikes rammed into the footpath at The Mall -- they were all celebrating the new year. Period.

There is a need for us to think up safer activities for the youth seeking thrill at the year’s end.

Well, the less ‘enthusiastic’ ones did stay indoors. Some posted their "last selfies of 2014" while some tweeted about how ‘immoral’ it was to even consider celebrating as the poignant memory of the children killed in the APS Peshawar attack was still fresh. Some were still not over declaring Muslims wishing "Merry Christmas" as "kaafirs" and New Year for them began on the "1st of Muharram".

My intention is in no way to dishonour the memory of the precious lives lost but to encourage people to broaden their perspectives. Make New Year’s eve a time of joy, casting away the grief of the past year, being grateful for its blessings and praying for a better and more productive year.

Stand together and show the demons that plague not just our country but the rest of the world too that our spirits are not that easy to break. We will not be scared off to hide in our homes. We will rise and shine because it is what our ancestors would want for us. In the end, all the heart wants is a reason to rejoice. What better than to celebrate a 365-day journey around the sun coming to an end and welcome a new beginning?