Change will not come
if we wait for some
other person or some
other time. We are
the ones we’ve been
waiting for. We are the
change that we seek.
— Barack Obama
But we needn’t despair:
there’s always hope.
Hope that the human
spirit and innovation
will carry us safely into
this new world.
are now in another decade.
As part of a church congregation,
I know the challenge of opening
ourselves to an unknown future.
The challenge is opening
ourselves and the communities
we love to the habits, practices,
and opinions of the next
generations. Where do their
needs and wants take us?
What gifts does the next
generation bring to us in our
communities, our society, and
our way of doing things?
What’s needed, to be sure, is
openness. Openness to new ideas
and yes, even new technology.
Openness to others around us;
openness to the world. Without
fear, without stereotypes, without
rigidity, but with hope, with
curiosity, with flexibility.
So the ninety-one-year-old
is amazed that she — a little
girl from a homestead in the
Saskatchewan drylands — is now
living in a two-thousand-square-
foot condo in balmy Kelowna,
taking classes at the Society for
Learning in Retirement, and
singing in a community choir.
And this month she’s learning
how to use her iPhone.
The ARTA membership
consists of more than one
generation . For all of us,
accommodating change and
being hopeful about the future
will get us through to the next
phase of life. How do you stay
open? I travel; I volunteer. You
might take a child to a concert;
read biographies of ‘thrivers;’
make music with others. How do
you live out hope that the world is
getting better every day? ●
Let us remember:
One book, one pen,
one child, and one
teacher can change
the world.
— Malala Yousafzai
My friends, love is
better than anger.
Hope is better than
fear. Optimism is
better than despair.
So let us be loving,
hopeful and optimistic.
And we’ll change
the world.
— Jack Layton
Never doubt that
a small group of
thoughtful, committed
citizens can change
the world. Indeed, it
is the only thing that
ever has.
— Margaret Mead
news&views SPRING 2019 | 9