Make 2009 a year of helping

his week we’re concluding the “holidays,” as Christmas and New Year’s have slipped by and we are entering into 2009. The Christmas decorations are being taken down and schools and clubs are resuming their normal schedules.

But this is a different year. We’ve heard nothing but gloom and doom predictions.

There are ways, though, for people to cope, mainly by helping others. Read on:

‘Twas the week after Christmas

And all through the town

Decorations and trees

Were all coming down.

The people who charged

Christmas gifts on the card

Now faced all the bills,

Payment would be hard.

The stores, they are hurting,

Many folks didn’t buy.

Can owners make payroll?

They’re going to try.

The governments’ budgets

Are close to the red;

The balancing act

Is rough, they have said.

Schools have a new boss,

He has to save dough.

Employees are asked

To take extra furlough.

The city’s new leader

Will be on his own.

How he’ll handle the crisis

Is not fully known.

But amid all this gloom

There brightness in sight

As the town pulls together

To pick up the fight.

Sadness won’t win,

Volunteers will insist.

They’ll keep our community

At the top of the list.

So we say this to all

From our fair little city

Don’t sit around

In your own self pity.

Get out and help,

Perform with a smile;

When people need help,

Go that extra mile.

If you start to help others

And start being kind

Your own situation

Will improve, you’ll find.

And maybe those lights

Need to stay up all year

To remind all the people

Of the holiday cheer.

Happy New Year, everybody.

Jim Clark is the editor of the Williston Pioneer Sun News. He can be reached at editor@willistonpioneer.com or at 528-3343.