When I look at this past year in the rear-view mirror, it is evident that a community is a compilation of accomplishments, accolades, new beginnings and some final endings too.
Unfortunately this ‘Year in Review’ could not mention everything noteworthy, as the pages could not hold it all. For each and every one of us, we have had something to celebrate or remember, or even maybe a lingering memory we wish to forget. We can do that because tomorrow is the first day of the rest of our lives and a new beginning.
We are not an “island unto ourselves” but a community of individuals that have come together as neighbours and friends to hopefully make life a little better for ourselves and each other.
Moose Jaw is a very special place and it is a rather poignant thought to think that whoever we are or wherever we came from all came to this city to live or work and contribute to our local environment in some meaningful way.
This community deserves the best we have to offer, and you can see that in the accomplishments that have been mentioned.
We can all be grateful for all the people in out community that are prepared to go out and make sacrifices for the community’s well-being. Even recently, a number of the firefighters that fought to put out the Empire Apartment blaze received injury due to their efforts made to save a number of others’ dwellings.
In regards to the outpouring of support for Ukraine after the war broke out and in the midst of this terrible time, you can see how our residents and community rose up in compassion, support and love in so many ways. In seeing the worst of humankind, you can also see the best of mankind in those people who have risen up to meet another’s needs.
What we do in our community and for out community is significant; most of us can go home at the end of a day and look ourselves in the mirror and say we did our best in what we do, and there’s no shame in doing that. We can do that everyday of our lives and continue to build on yesterday. Not all of us may get a pat-on-the-back for what we do, but we can all be sure we have significance and matter to somebody.
My great words of wisdom would be…Keep on keeping-on, keep smiling and remain optimistic; our ending will be much greater than our beginning! Seize the day and make it better than yesterday for you or someone else.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
