From the Editor| December, 2011

Christmas is a time when people talk about joy, unity, and gifts. We gather with family and friends to eat and drink. More than any other, Christmas is a holiday of ‘goodwill toward men’ and of togetherness. Of community. What better time then, for us to reflect on our civic community? [Interestingly, the word ‘city’ bookends the word ‘community’]

Hamilton is an amalgamated city. We’re a city of many communities – sometimes bitterly opposed. As demonstrated in the last municipal election, we are a city with a wide variety of viewpoints and values. We are home to extreme wealth and to extreme poverty. We are heavily urban, but yet we have wards that are mostly farmland. As the third most ethnically diverse city in Canada, our population makes up a cultural mosaic more vibrant than most. A large segment of our citizenry is aging rapidly, but we have also seen a recent influx of young professionals into our city. Our city is home to churches, mosques, temples, synagogues, and individuals of all types of spiritual inclinations. There is literally a cliff running through the middle of our city. We are a community of many communities indeed.

Over the last year, we have had a few fights in our community. We’ve fought about the location of the Pan Am Stadium, the velodrome, LRT, area rating, and the aerotropolis. We’ve also endured elections at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels. It has not been an easy year for our city. This Christmas, Hamilton is a city divided.

So how is it, then, that we can progress together into 2012 with hope for our collective future?

Or rather, how is it, I would ask, that we could not?

Originally penned by C.S. Lewis in his book The Magician’s Nephew, the phrase “a thousand points of light” was popularized in the speeches of former American President George H.W. Bush. He used it in his inaugural address in 1989, stating: “I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the nation, doing good. We will work hand in hand, encouraging, sometimes leading, sometimes being led, rewarding.”

While we may be a community with many divisions, we remain a community filled with a thousand points of light. No matter how small or lonely each point of light might be – consider a single candle or Christmas light – it can illuminate a room when shining in concert with many others.

We don’t all know each other. We don’t all get along with, or agree with each other. We don’t have to. I am convinced that, with respectful dialogue, a little understanding, and some ‘goodwill toward men’, we have every reason to progress together into 2012 with optimism and hope.

This Christmas season, let’s reflect on our community of communities, on our divisions, and on our commonalities. Let’s enter 2012 with vigour, igniting many more points of light in the city we call our home.

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• Christmas
• community
• Hamilton
• holidays
• Martinus Geleynse