If you ever get the chance to listen to Lynda Haverstock or Joanie McCusker, pay heed.
Lynda Haverstock is lieutenant governor of Saskatchewan and Joan McCusker was a member of the women’s Olympic curling rink skipped by the late Sandra Schmirler.
Both were on the same program last week when the Saskatchewan Weekly Newspapers Association, with Sask-Power and the RCMP, honored this year’s Saskatchewan Junior Citizens of the Year.
Joanie, as she is affectionately known, began her presentation with a “fashion show” by dressing the four Junior Citizens – Farrah Mateen of Prince Albert, Cara-Faye Merasty of Pelican Narrows, Amber Smith of Regina and Nicole Stenerson of Sonningdale – in her Olympic jacket and accessories.
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She told her audience that attitude is everything in life and quoted five rules to achieve success: believe you deserve self esteem; make good choices; plan your life and have goals to follow; choose positive role models; and be high on life.
Remember that success is a journey, not a destination, she said. Life is all about the journey.
Haverstock congratulated the four young people for their accomplishments, saying that in their few years on earth, they have done so much and made exemplary choices.
We should never underestimate the wisdom of youth, she said.
“Young people are our now. Our lives are enhanced by them.”
While the words of Haverstock and McCusker were directed primarily at young people, there is surely something in there for all of us to remember.
“Attitude is everything in life” applies to young people making their way through school, as well as to farmers and rural folk trying to survive the vicissitudes of rural life.
“Life is all about the journey” means we should take each day as it comes and enjoy the now while we plan for the future.
If we are constantly waiting for a day in the future to go for a drive, talk with our child, spare a kind word for someone who needs it, we are missing what today has to offer.
Often, we will make a call or write a note to another adult whom we feel has done something praiseworthy.
Too often, we neglect to do that when a young person has done something fine, but we must.
Young people are our now and our future. We especially need their vision, their strength and their wisdom in rural Canada.
