The Observation Deck

Click here for the PDF Version.
http://media.lakewoodobserver.com/issue_pdfs/Observer_Vol_09_Issue_22.pdf

Hard to believe, Issue 22. Seems like only yesterday when we were talking about New Year's Eve Resolutions. here we are at the time of the year where we say, next year for sure. I will do it in 2014, I promise.

Here we are at the beginning of the family holidays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chanukah, and Kwanzaa. A celebration shared with family members of all ages in a wonderful mix of traditions new and old, religions new and old, and seasons. It is also a great time for Lakewood, and the region. The leaves go from green to reds, oranges, yellows and browns before falling off the trees in the never-ending cycle of death, birth, life that goes on. For gnats it is just 24 hours, but for humans it can span decades and decades. Each year bringing new chances, new educational opportunities and possibly a new way to view the world and Observe what is going on.

Next year marks our tenth full year of publishing and looking back at the very recent changes, and things going on, it is nice to have the value of decades of life to look at many of the things happening. Sometimes, we have a tendency to get stuck in the past, yearning for our days back at school, hell some in this city yearn for the days back in grade school. Sooner or later we are all asked, "Don't you wish you knew then what you know now?" I always look at them in horror with a "No!" thinking I have kind of enjoyed my path of learning about life, love, cities, neighbors, and how things need to work together.

Community, that is where the real action is, watching the life of a community, from being a kid being watched by family and neighbors to being the neighbor looking out in wonder, "What the hell is that kid doing?" As I sit on my porch on a Friday or Saturday night, I watch many kids walk by, laughing talking with bags of bottles clicking remembering, myself in my teens, talking someone into buying us beer, carrying it down into the Emerald Canyon, where we would practice our drinking and singing skills. While it is refreshing to see the cycle of life continue, one cannot help but think about what decades of life and experiences have brought to the entire equation of life.

Which brings me back to the community I think we all love, and some of us respect. Everything must advance, and surely we know everything must sooner or later change. But I also know that the best changes respect what is there now and build towards a better future. Rarely if ever is change simply for change's sake good for anyone. As November 5th rolls around and we practice one of the true acts of patriotism most of us will share, voting, remember the past, and think of the future. Who has answered the needs of the people in this community, and who has ignored it? Do we want youth for the sake of change, or because the youth is always our future?

And above all, please vote for Issue 84, and finish the schools, and make sure all of your family and friends realize that you support Issue 84, our schools and the education of this community's children.

If you have not done it lately, stop by the Lakewood Observer website, check out some of the discussions and jump in, after all, it is your town and your project too. Together we can make this city all it can be, while protecting the rights and the future of all of us.

Party on.

.