PRESIDENT'S COLUMN: Big Park Council President’s final thoughts

It’s with a grateful heart that I offer you my final thoughts as Big Park Council president.

December marks the end of my third term as chairman, before which I served as secretary – a total of four years as an officer. Like a four-year hitch in the military or a four-year course of study to earn a degree – the concentration of time has been an education and a crucible. The experience of working with a range of community members, regional leaders and government agencies expanded my worldview significantly and elevated my appreciation for the blessing of living in a country that values and protects individual voice and choice.

As a child of the ‘60s, I watched friends and cousins plucked from comfortable lives to serve in a horrific war, some not to return and others to return damaged and unappreciated. In 2019, I felt a calling to contribute something that might in the smallest way honor their contribution. I certainly didn’t have the skills or knowledge to play a role in the big, polarizing problems that our nation faces, but contributing on a humble scale to study local issues and engage the community in civil discussion seemed do-able.

As a community, we have worked together in an impressively civil manner the past few years. That didn’t come easy, it took hard work.

It’s my greatest hope that the good work will be carried forward by new leadership with a commitment to the mission of the Council, the energy to aim for excellence, and the resolve to honor those on whose shoulders they stand.