Perk Up Your Winter With Offering Of Hope

The clouds, the winter cold, the presidential impasse. Sometimes events pile up around us, making it feel like winter inside and out.

So, what better time to talk about hope?

The Valley Voice asked several people in our community to share their hopes for the coming year. As you read these passages, we at the Valley Voice hope you find the time to polish up your own hopes for the New Year. Talk about them around the dinner table. Think about them as you fall asleep.

And here’s hoping all our hopes come true.

Linda Ashlock of Liberty Lake is state chairwoman of the Children’s Home Society. Her late husband, Denny, was the visionary behind the Mirabeau Point community complex.

“My hopes are that every child has a happy family that could afford to take care of them and love them and raise them to be a healthy individual. That’s a hope for the future.

“I also hope that Denny’s plans come to fruition for all people to enjoy.

“I think the cause for hope is the volunteers and staff and all the people who work so diligently for these projects, who are willing to give of themselves to make these hopes become reality.”

Jim Mace is a 21-year-old college student who has used a wheelchair since a rock-climbing accident several years ago.

“I just hope that all the families that have other family members abroad - either overseas or in other states - that the coming year keeps them safe.

“The reason I say that is that my little 18-year-old brother is in Kansas, in the Army. He just graduated (from University High School) last year and it’s a new thing for me having a family member so far away.”

Mace said he draws his hope from adversity.

“I was thinking about it last night before I hit the rack, thinking about what is my definition of hope?

“I decided it can’t really be explained by a definition, but by example. Think of it as little flickering lights in your heart.

“Once you realize it’s there and pursue those hopes and dreams, that light will get stronger. Eventually you’ll obtain those hopes and the light will shine right through you.”

Kate McCaslin, Spokane County commissioner who represents the Spokane Valley.

“There are so many things to hope for. Did you want just one?” McCaslin compromised, settling on three.

“Well, I always hope for the health and happiness of friends and family. Always, every day.

“Another thing I hope for in this time of need, is that our community’s economy continues to grow so we can get our families’ incomes up. That will solve so many problems for us.

“And can I have one selfish, last little one? I hope I can get into the house I’m building before summer.”

And her reason to hope? “That’s easy. From my faith.”

Linda Tompkins, Spokane County Superior Court judge and mother of two college-age girls: “First, what I hope for the coming year is perspective. We’re approaching the millenium, and whether this is international or a particularly national view, I would hope that we all could adopt a broader view that’s less colloquial … and much more inclusive.

“Encompassed in that, also, is a hope for wisdom, to know what is needed and when it’s needed. We have all sorts of options and ways that we can make this world better. We can look at pre-natal and early childhood resources, we can look at building more and more jails and prisons. And we need both of those, but we certainly must take a longer view and realize that we need to invest in the future in our children.

“I also am hoping for equipoise and balance. Particularly for me, that would be to balance justice and mercy in my position. Those issues aren’t equal but they need to equitable. Sometimes more of one is due, and sometimes more of the other is due, and you just have to recognize it case by case.”

Dan Wilson, a Kaiser millwright for 15 years. He’s 43, married and has three children.

“We would like to see an end of this dispute between Kaiser and the Steelworkers, an honorable contract that benefits not only the workers but the community.

“We’re a pretty diverse group. We’ve got people with college educations, people who are very skilled. A lot of them are very involved with the community, they’re Boy Scout leaders and church leaders. These are middle-American type people. They give a lot back to the community.”

Wilson sees reason to hope when he looks at the unity and commitment among the strikers.

“When your focus is off you and it’s on other people in the community - what are your kids going to have for opportunities for jobs? What’s your neighbor going to do? - it gives you a little more perspective. It gives you more strength to fight for something you know is right.”

Madeline Luedtke, a board member for the Spokane Valley Senior Citizen’s Center: “I have a big hope for the senior center. I am trying to get a new bus. I have been begging and pleading (for money). That is my No. 1 aim. And then of course we’re hoping for a new center, a few years down the road.”

Loren Mitchell, president and CEO of the Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce.

“In our business, we’re always working with political issues. I would hope that during 1999 we as a community would recognize that we all have to work together, to make this a better economic place to live. That’s my No. 1 prayer, is that we can learn to learn to work together.

“It’s so easy to build barriers, but if we don’t start working together we’re going to miss a lot of the economic opportunities that come our way.

“I’ve seen some encouraging signs,” Mitchell said.