Village News

It’s a new year and a new decade! How time flies. Maybe another role for museums like the Mennonite Heritage Village is “Time Machine”. We’ve created a place from a hundred years ago that people can come back in time to visit.

Recently I read Dr. Carson’s ‘Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff’ advice to not get so frustrated by other people or the day to day events because a hundred years from now none of us will be around – so what does it really matter? We are only on this planet for a short time and the people around us just happen to be here at the same time. It is something to cherish and not get frustrated by.

The thought that in a hundred years there will be all new people inspired me to write this poem:

A Hundred Years From Now

A hundred years from now?
All new people.
Look around you, all the people you know and see will not be here.
All new people.
There will be new ways of living, new technology and new governments.
There will be all new people.

You will not be here.
All new people.
Your children will not be here.
All new people.
The grandchildren you see?
All new people.

But,
the culture and heritage you left behind will be with them.
With all the new people will be an old culture and heritage.
It will be their source of wisdom to know how to deal with
their new ways of living, their new technology and their governments.

It will be all new people,
but it won’t be all new.

I am so thankful for how people of culture and heritage have been able to help me in my life journey. Their example, their words, their traditions, their values have been so helpful. In a hundred years I hope that my culture and heritage and I will still be guiding those who are trying to make life good for their children. Could it be the point of parenting well is that our grandchildren can have good parents? A good investment indeed.

For now, I wish you all a Happy New Year and hope to see you at MHV this year. A big thank you to those who helped us with our matching drive of $40,000. Well done! The final numbers weren’t in at press time. I’m also glad to have experienced a year at the village and look forward to doing more in 2020. A hundred years ago none of the buildings we now frequent were around, but our heritage buildings were. A hundred years from now how much more special will it be to have these 200 year old buildings right in Steinbach. The Mennonite Heritage Village is a special spot in our world and in our time.