Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Dan Springer: With summer gone, it’s time for new beginnings
The calendar tells us summer will be with us for a few more weeks, but as far as most of us are concerned, that’s it for summer.
With Labor Day behind us, it’s time to move on. Time to change from the lazy, hazy days of summer, as Nat King Cole sang years ago, and get ready for fall and the time of new beginnings and fresh starts.
I know, these remarks are usually made when the calendar reads May 1, but for many of us, fall really is the time to get a fresh start.
Autumn brings a new school year, new television season, fresh football season and later pro and college basketball. Now is the time for our local governments to finish work on budgeting money for the coming year. Oh, and let’s not forget, now is the time we start to pay real attention to the political races, the pundits tell us. What we’ve been doing for the past 18 months is beyond me.
It’s true, autumn means there’s much to be done before winter’s arrival in a few short months, but after the unpredictable summer schedules, it’s good to get back to a routine.
Today marks the first day back to school for children throughout Wisconsin and elsewhere in the country.
A new school year brings the quintessential fresh start. Gone are the missed assignments, failed tests and half-done projects of the last school year.
With the slate clean, each student, with the right attitude, work ethic and dedication, can achieve academic greatness.
Similarly each of the television networks think they have the lineup that will attract viewers and send advertisers knocking down the doors wanting to throw bushel baskets of money at the networks.
Speaking of bushel baskets of money, that’s exactly what the political candidates will be doling out for advertising in the coming days, hoping to squeeze out that one last vote to put them over the top. With the economy the way it is, I would presume our local government leaders are not facing the budget with the same optimism as school children, network executives, political candidates or even professional athletes.
No doubt, this will be a rough year to work that budget and crunch those numbers. But it’s work that has to be done, and our local leaders will do what they can.
Working the budget is much like raking leaves, caulking windows, putting on storm windows and cleaning out the gutters.
It isn’t much fun and there are hundreds of things we would rather do, but it has to get done and nobody is going to do it for us, so you have to knuckle down and get it done.
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