News

PRESIDENT'S CORNER

President’s Corner for December 16, 2015

This will be my last column until the New Year.  The OLLI office will be closed for a week and then we have holidays that happened to fall on Friday for the next two weeks…so it’s time to reflect on the old and new, wish one another Peace, Happiness, Prosperity, Good Health and Longevity. Here’s a nice poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox to set the tone…

“What can be said in New Year rhymes,
That’s not been said a thousand times?
The new years come, the old years go,
We know we dream, we dream we know.
We rise up laughing with the light,
We lie down weeping with the night.
We hug the world until it stings,
We curse it then and sigh for wings.
We live, we love, we woo, we wed,
We wreathe our prides, we sheet our dead.
We laugh, we weep, we hope, we fear,
And that’s the burden of a year.”

Have you thought to remember OLLI in your Christmas/Hannukkah gift list? A modest check to our Scholarship fund or the Special Events committee would help with those that might want to give us a try for a class or help pay for cookies and punch. If you really feel generous, remember that the 100K club will still accept your pledge or gift of $1000. Trust me, it really feels good to give what you can to support Lifelong Learning in West Virginia.

Here’s another little poem by the delightful Shel Silverstein, poet and cartoonist…

Snowball  

I made myself a snowball,
As perfect as could be,
I thought I’d keep it as a pet,
And let it sleep with me.

I made it some pajamas,
And a pillow for its head,
Then last night it ran away,
But first - it wet the bed!

As winter begins to descend on us in the annual death of the old year, do not go gently into that good night, as another poet opined, but look forward to all the wonder of the New Year, consider the words of that first poem (above), or, not to get too religious here, think on the wonderful old hymn with words by Christina Rossetti, one of the company known as the Aesthetic Movement of the late 19th century. I’ll quote it all here to close this little holiday meditation and wish each and every one of you a blessed and warm season of hope!

  1. In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, In the bleak midwinter, long ago.
  2. Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain; Heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign. In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
  3. Angels and archangels may have gathered there, Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air; But his mother only, in her maiden bliss, worshiped the beloved with a kiss.
  4. What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part; Yet what I can I give him: give my heart.