What I really love about embarking on a new year is the connotation of starting afresh, especially if the past year wasn’t that great for some. It’s a time to put the past aside and focus on the future and head into it with optimism, new goals and challenges to conquer. The past is gone and there is no use dwelling on what could have been but there’s also a lot of the past that isn’t forgotten, those great memories to reminisce with family and friends on some of life’s special moments.
I think of how fast life is going by…it just seems like yesterday when our kids were small and underfoot and now they have kids of their own and they in-turn are experiencing some sleep deprivation and sometimes too much activity to handle some days. Sometimes I wish we could turn back the clock of time and experience the same things over, but with a knowing perspective that only comes with age…and if wishes were horses, then beggars would ride because in reality, we can never go back for a do-over. Every season of life is a time to embrace and be present so as not to live with regrets.
And I think about the past year in the City of Moose Jaw. This coming November is D-day for Moose Jaw’s mayor and councillors, hoping to be re-elected. It is the majority of the same people that are taxpayers and haven’t been allowed a voice in any of the decisions that City Hall has made this past year and longer that will again be voting. The majority of major decisions, tax increases, wage increases, etc. have been done in closed door meetings without the public’s input and the mayor appears so proud that they concluded their budget this year prior to Christmas – without the public’s input. That seems really smug to me. When did Moose Jaw stop being administrated by the City but rather controlled by the City Council and administration? The decisions they make seem to be questionable as they don’t acknowledge the taxpayers who are the base for their spending habits and they seem to not want to be accountable to the people of Moose Jaw. It is with great expectations that many are looking for big changes at City Hall and November will be here sooner than it looks from here. Time will tell.
Let’s hope and pray that 2020 will be good to all of us, including Moose Jaw.
