Ed Said - Where did the year go?

 

It's a bit hackneyed but we continue to ask the same question. The older we get, the faster it seems to go, especially when advertisers ask in September, if they can have a nominated high profile spot in the paper in the Christmas issue!

Like it or not, Christmas is now upon us and we all acknowledge it in our own way according to our age and stage of life, our beliefs, and where our friends and families reside. In any case, however you choose to spend it, may the closeness of friends, the comfort of home, and the unity of our nation renew your spirits this festive season.

Our nation's unity, depends on how we see things politically. There is no blueprint for political stability and there are always factions in every society who feel downtrodden, ignored or ripped off. Indeed, new governments generally feel that way themselves, finding after attaining power, that things weren’t as they had been led to believe. Hence, our new government has already trimmed a number of election promises but there’s no need to panic. While there are some simple solutions to several problems prevalent in the country today, politics seems unable to give a definitive answer to the simplest of questions.

For example, how many MPs does it take to change a light bulb? After some debate the official answer came back, "This topic was resumed from last week's discussion, but is incomplete pending resolution of some action items. It will be continued when the house sits again in the New Year.” Meanwhile, Labour will nominate a governor who will appoint a steering committee overseeing a working group implementing a proposal to mandate a board built to assist investigators to look at plausible links between the findings of a research panel assembled by a bureau controlled by trustees associated with consultants appointed by a task force selected by a chamber controlled by The Prime Minister who will be recording the whole thing in her colouring book from her dolls house.

During all of this the majority of the population will continue to get on with life. Ah…but we must take all this lightly. Before we realise it life has moved on and our best years have been spent worrying about things we neither fully understand nor are able to change. We don’t need to make New Year resolutions but we need to prioritise our husbands and wives, families, health and the combinations of things that give us the most satisfaction. We need to set goals within our capabilities. Make some decisions. We have to accept that some decisions we make may be wrong but at least we made them. We need to remember that the road of life is paved with flat possums who couldn’t make a decision.

We need to take simple precautions. Passing through age and illness is inevitable but there are accidents which can be avoided with planning, for example by not setting ourselves too many time limits.

We'd like to extend a big thanks to everyone - our advertisers, our contributors, our readers, both in print and our fast-growing digital audience, our critics and our advocates for your continued support and for taking the time to write, call and comment on whatever topic spurs your interest.

Responses good, bad, or indifferent all indicate The Focus is being widely read and for this we thank you. We wish you all who are having a break, a safe and pleasant holiday and for those who are working through, thanks for being there for us. Best wishes for the festive season from the Focus Team, Rob, Rich, Mel, Julia, Dan, and stand-in editor Donna. Let’s do it all again in ’18, the Year of the Dog. Maybe our SPCA friends will capitalise on it with new homes for waifs and strays in the hope it will bring new owners good luck - something we can all use.

Just my thoughts. Rob