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"A Family Tradition for 134 Years" PORT PERRY STAR - Wednesday, December 29, 1999 - 7 The Pout Povey Stay Question of the Week... you think would make a good question of the week? Call us at 905-985-7383. ---- a : oo [ad | FS pn' How do you plan to celebrate % 9 i va ind) us Begin Debbie Mason Blair Harsell ~~ Angela Willis Nick Pelyk Karen Hockley enn: At home with a nice din- At home, really just in At a house party with my I'll be going around to a At Trillium Trails at a for- ner and a bottle of wine. case something happens. friends. few parties and I hope I mal dance to spend the I'm going to stay at ' don't die. I hope I don't night with my family and Do you have a suggestion that home. get blown up. friends. LETTERS Teachers going the extra mile for teams To the Editor: I am a teacher, but at this moment I am writing as a parent. Some extra curricular activities do exist in Durham secondary schools: My daughter was a member of this year's senior girl's basketball team at Port Perry High School. After a limited season they won the L.0.S.S.A. championship, and qualified to attend the O.F.F.S.A. championships in Stratford last month. They were one of 16 teams in the province to attend. This was a "dream" only a few get to experi- ence in their high school career. It involved transportation and an extended stay, from Wednesday to Saturday. For this experience, my daughter had only to provide money for meals and incidentals. The bulk of the expense was covered by fund- raising by the team members and the school. The Durham District School Board wants, and if possible would demand, extracurricular activities in schools, yet their financial support is minimal. Teams from other areas in the province (from boards not as big and prosperous) had the image of a high caliber team. I would have hoped an award winning board, such as Durham, would have been hon- oured to support a team from one of their schools, with uniforms, warm-up suits, accom- modation money, etc. After all, imagine the money they have saved by not supporting sports for the past two years. The teachers, school, students and commu- nity gave their support (time and money). The board offered empty words and continue to do S50. In the past, my husband gave up many hours with activities at his school to benefit 'children other than his own. For this, he missed many moments with his own girls, time that cannot be replaced. I did what I could at my school while still left to parent my children. I once prayed that when my girls were in school, they too would have teachers who would fill their father's void and provide their guidance and time. I have not been disappointed. Thank you to all who gave to my daughters in elementary and secondary schools. It was not taken for granted, but with gratitude. Heather Parsons, Pontypool by Jeff Mitchell THE FUTURE, AND WHAT IT MEANS A quick glance at the dateline gracing the top of this page can either enthrall or appall... two days and counting. Time run- ning out on a century; that most ominous of numbers -- 2000 -- in the wings. | What does one say now, perched on the very cusp of a new age? Because that's what it is. Forget what all the nit-pickers and basement-dwellers tell you about the millennium not starting for another year, and another 12 months being left in the 20th century, and blah, blah, blah.... It's 2000, people, and that's the biggest change any of us has been witness to. It is the new millennium. It is the new century. It is The Future. Remember all the whacky predictions, back in the 60's and beyond, about how we'd be living come 2000? How we'd get breakfast from a slot in the wall and ride to work in pre-pro- grammed vehicles that knew the way? How we'd hop from place to place with jet packs on our backs, and take the kiddies to the moon for summer vacation? What reason was there for us not to believe that we could be just like James T. Kirk, blasting around the galaxy with phasers and beam-me-up technology, settling differences and gettin' it on with the aliens? Well, it was easy to get carried away, | suppose. That's the way the future is. Anything is possible, and the limitations that hamper us in the here and now will most certainly be shed by way of evolution, or science, or war, or who knows what else. We will be better and smarter and richer and more comfortable. In reality, of course, the only thing we are now, in comparison to the 60's, and beyond, is more numerous. Six billion human beings. A number that has been reached terrifyingly quickly since the first billion threshold was reached late in the last century, and which increases exponentially today. Six billion and counting. Sure, there's more wealth, but it's in the hands of very few. We are healthier, to be sure, but there are millions who do not have access to the simplest of treatments. We are intelligent and knowledgeable, but sometimes you have to wonder if we are aware of all we need to be. Still, I hold out hope for humanity, magnificent humankind. We destroy and devour and desecrate and waste, but we also create, contemplate, invent, and explore. And | believe the time will come when we realize that we have placed in peril our Mother Earth, and that we must change our thinking, and our ways. It has to. * When midnight arrives in a couple of days, | will be at home with my family. | plan to say to my children, "Well kids, here it is: Your Century. Do the very best you can, and learn from the mis- takes my generation has made." Or something like thai. You never know. Maybe I'll say: "Hey! Who turned out the lights?" followed by, "Um, did anyone remember to get batteries?" On New Year's Day I'll get up and go for a long run, and Just... look around. It'll be the same world. But it will be very dif- erent. The future will have arrived. Here's to the future.