I have to admit that I’m a bit sorry to be saying goodbye to 2014. It’s been a good year for me! Did I mention before how happy I am to be in my new role here at Seaside? It’s interesting approaching a new year and wondering what can top the one that went before.
Do you have travel plans this year? A significant birthday or other anniversary to celebrate? Perhaps there will be a wedding, or the arrival of a new family member. From the depths of winter it can be exciting to anticipate what’s on the horizon. There are the things that will happen to us, and there are the things that we can make happen. What are your plans to make your mark in 2015?
January 1st is always an opportunity to turn a fresh page and look at things anew. We’ve chosen to focus on finances this month, with the idea of planning in mind. The way that we handle our finances says a lot about us. Sometimes the biggest gains are made by those who are prepared to take a risk but there are also many rewards for those who start small and carefully plan for their future.
I enjoyed reflecting on the idea of legacy and how we might plan to continue supporting the things that matter to us after we die. Many of the institutions we benefit from today were made possible through generous legacy gifts in the past. The Mary Winspear Centre and Charlie White Theatre are named after the philanthropists who cared about the arts and wanted to ensure a significant venue was available here on the Saanich Peninsula. We won’t all have a fortune to leave, but our legacies can be written in many forms.
This month in Trendspotting (pg 40) Susi McMillan took the idea of giving and ran with it. She used as her inspiration the Winston Churchill quotation “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Giving something of ourselves always has a dual benefit: we help others, and we feel good doing it. I’m inspired by the concept of participation as a force for good. I don’t think it really matters what it is that we’re participating in, but society works better when we have to rub up alongside other people. It takes work sometimes to tolerate different perspectives, and it forces us to reflect upon the many ways that it is possible for people to live. When we practice tolerance for each other we are leaving behind a gift for the generations that will come after.
Wishing you all a happy, and memorable, New Year!
