To the editor:

“And now let us welcome the New Year, full of things that have never been.”

— Rainer Maria Rilke

As I consider Rilke’s words, I think about the year just ending which has surely been full of things that have never been.

In China, Olympic records were broken. In the U.S., elections were charged, and brought in new faces many had said would never be seen in the White House or, closer to home, in the Island County commissioners’ offices.

Of course, we’ve also had a pre-winter wintery and bone-chilling blast of economic downturn that has everyone’s attention, the like of which has not been seen in many of our lives. And over the past several days, we’ve had a truly bone-chilling blast of real weather nobody expected, which temporarily brought things to a near-halt.

But on South Whidbey, I’ve also seen a remarkable coming together of hearts and minds and words as we’ve worked to celebrate the new good things and to help each other through the rest. On the Langley Community Forum we’ve seen an outpouring of helpful advice about road conditions, responses to requests for help and advice for us all to be patient. We’ve also witnessed this patience on slippery roads and sidewalks, neighbors helping neighbors through the storm.

As we go into 2009, there’s no question we’ll be facing many new things more lasting than a winter storm — changes in the way our community responds to the larger world, the economy, possible development, questions about the harbor and energy and the many other topics on our minds and in our hearts.

My wish for the new year is that we approach each of these with the same good spirit and sensibility with which we’ve pulled together during the storm. Let’s be patient at council meetings and listen, really listen, to other points of view. Let’s work toward what we each may want, but with attention to how our wants will impact others. Let’s be respectful of each other in all endeavors on behalf of Langley, South Whidbey, the island, our homes.

Trade-offs are always in the picture. Let’s look at them carefully and stay away from black square-white square, either-or thinking.

We’ve done a great job this late December coming together in the goodwill of the season. When the snow melts and the roads are clear and the holidays are over, let’s not forget how we did this — with skill and good hearts.

I suspect that a few of you reading this may be rolling your eyes thinking I’m going to suggest next that we all stand and join hands and sing together. I won’t. But I’ve heard many people say they came to the island, and especially to Langley, because they’d had enough of political wrangling and divisive or divided communities. I’m one of them. We can do so much better than those communities.

Writer and doctor Lewis Thomas once said that we humans are not binary creatures. We can choose more than yes-no, either-or. We humans, he believed, have four possibilities when it comes to making choices: “Yes, no, maybe, and what the hell, let’s give it a try!”

Let’s keep them all in mind as we take care of our island and our community in 2009.

Con amore, con brio!

Molly Larson Cook

Langley