@ Busy Bees & Little Red Hens Who Smell the Coffee and Roses
Editbrial by joétle Rabu, AEN member & Pubtec Relations —

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E... summer | take a 3-month hiatus from Nanaimo and

upon my return it usually takes me about a week to get back
into the swing of things. Messages and e-mails, reading the
stack of local newspapers that have accumulated in the
corner of my living room and, just doing a general ‘catch up’
with friends, colleagues and the community, becomes my
priority.

To my usual question, “How was your summer?” most folks
give me their usual response, “It went by too fast, | didn’t
get anything accomplished!” | must admit that | feel that
way every time September rolls around. My 87-year old
mother states that as you get older, time goes by faster. This
is not a pleasant thought as my ego is so close to placing its
fragile fingertips on its 50th year! So in order to feel that | will
accomplish something of meaning in this fast-paced life, |
search for as many things as possible to do. After all, most
of us yearn to go a la Frank Sinatra:“I did it ALL...1 did it my
way...”What irritates me is when | am told to slow down and
stop and smell the roses or the coffee. What automatically
comes to my mind is, sure...but WHO will plant the roses
and WHO will make the coffee for me to stop and smell?
Remember the Little Red Hen story, where everyone wanted
to eat that wonderful fresh bread but nobody wanted to
plant the grain, mill the flour, roll the dough and the bake the
darn thing?

It’s human nature to want things but it’s also human nature
to sit back and let others do the work if we can get away
with it. Some folks are the busy bees while others are the
consumers of the honey. This human foible is evident
everywhere in our society and I’m certainly not about to
embark on a quest to change it. C'est la vie. However, what |
know | can do is be more aware of those busy bees and little
red hens in my community first and foremost. If | am more
aware then perhaps | will become more in tune, sensitive,
enthusiastic and ultimately more helpful.

There is one place in Nanaimo where | can guarantee that
when | walk into the office, | will be swept into a fascinat-
ing world of visionary enthusiasm, a hustle and bustle of
projects, a dynamic energy of joie de vivre. | speak, bat ov
coorse, of Nanaimo’s Francophone Association. A hive of

@

Association des francophones de Nanaimo

busy bees greets me with a quick bonjour and then, like the
horse race announcement “They're off!” | get accosted with
ideas, proposals, projects and even a cup of café so that! can
at least smell it while | am barreling through this barrage of
excitement and energy. | have learned to have a notepad in
hand when | enter the AFN doors.

This energy is all well and certainly good. The accolades
the AFN is receiving from across the nation, as being one
of the most dynamic community associations is flattering.
But, | can’t help but wonder how a small 28 year old entity,
with a shoe-string budget and skeleton staff, can possibly
functionatthisbreak-neckspeed.Hugeculturalandeconomic
community development projects are in the planning
and some are even in the implementing stages for 2008
and beyond! Should the AFN sit back, stop, smell the
roses and let someone else do the work? | yell a firm and
committed NON! Reason being, that | drive by the French Im-
mersion schools daily and see hundreds of bilingual students
walking into classes preparing for their future. | sit on the
Cultural Committee for the 2010 Olympics in Vancou-
ver and hear the statistics of how many, not only French
speaking visitors are expected, but how many bilingual
people will be required to fill hundreds of job positions.
And | also remind myself that | live in Canada, a country
with 2 official languages. So, why would | sit back and let
someone else do all the work, work that will help ready our
future generation for a competitive world, work that will
enhance my community culturally, socially and
economically, work that allows me to label myself a proud
Canadian?

| get many opportunities to stop and smell the roses
and coffee. It’s on any given day at the AFN office, where
| get fed a menu full of exciting proposals that simply
require my helping hand. On that menu is a dose of
caffeine in the form of energetic projects that require
my imagination, and a bouquet of aromatic roses that
permeate the air as a reminder of what it means to be
Canadian. Don’t believe me? Next time you go to the

AFN, say “Bonjour, what can | do?” It’s magical!

30-1925 rue Bowen Nanaimo - V9S 1H1 Nanaimo, Colombie-Britannique

Téléphone : 250-729-2776 - Telecopie : 250-729-2777

Courriel : afn@francophonenanaimo.org - Site Internet : http:/Awww.francophonenanaimo.org