Dear Friends and Neighbors,
The election is only a few short days away. I hope everyone makes the effort to get out and vote on Tuesday. The weather looks beautiful (thanks to Nick Morganelli). This election is very important for Westfield, and the results will impact you and your family for many years.
I’ve been asked several times “Why do you do this?” and “Why are you so focused on the budgets?” I’ve always talked about the civic obligation to serve, and the goal of making Westfield a better place to live, work, and play. I’ve occasionally talked in more detail about “Why?” and “What drives me?”
I thought this would be a good time to talk about a few people who I think about when I’m serving, and that I hope you’ll think about when you are voting: my grandmother, Margaret Bernice Moore; and, my sons, Liam and Ethan.
My grandmother was born in 1905. She grew up in Milton Lower Mills. Her father worked at Baker Chocolate Factory. She became a nurse and worked early-on for Dr. Joslin, the famous diabetes doctor, and eventually retired from Mass General Hospital after 50 years. She married in the 1930’s and lived in Dorchester most of her life. She was widowed in the mid-1940’s. She raised my father as a single mother during extraordinarily challenging times. She never re-married. She never owned a home. She never drove a car – she took the “T” everywhere she needed to go. In her 70’s and 80’s she was still fit and active and volunteering for the parish food bank and the Dorchester Women’s Club.
When I was a little kid, my family lived in Brockton, and my grandmother used to come over every weekend to babysit. Later-on, during high school and college, I spent a lot of time with her. I actually got to see her once a week while I was in college in Boston – our date. She was in her late 70’s but she’d still make me a home-cooked dinner or I’d take her out somewhere. I remember working on a school project about the depression and talking with her about what it was like, and what it was like in general to live in the early part of the century. There were stories about big families, cars, and wars, and sicknesses, and struggles. Folks back then really did struggle. But, they made the best out of what they had, and they lived within their means. She told me about how she managed money. She’d cash her paychecks and then distribute the money into a set of envelopes: rent, food, utilities, clothes, school, church, savings, etc… She did this for years. When she ran short, she juggled a bit, or she cut back on something. This is how the greatest generation did things. They lived within their means. They worked hard. They stood up and faced great challenges, and made great sacrifices, during the war. Family, and friends, and neighbors helped each other out. There was a community spirit and a sense of obligation to your family, your church, your community, and your country. There was a higher calling.
I was a tech guy, and always had the latest gadget. She was low-tech. I remember her listening to the Red Sox on her transistor radio. She had a color TV, but most of the time she preferred the transistor radio. She liked Eck and Stanley. When I graduated college in the mid-1980’s I started working for a local utility company. Like many others, I had a pager, and I eventually got a mobile phone. Everyone’s got one these days, but back then they were very special. The first call I made was to her – from my snappy Monte Carlo SS T-top. I thought she’d be impressed, but she said “Who do you think you are? The President!” She thought it was a total waste of money, and that there was no reason to have a phone in
a car. I remembered her envelopes, and remembered how she felt about wasting money on unnecessary things. I explained that the company wanted me to have it, and that it was their money – not mine. She still thought it was a waste of money.
She always talked about living to be 90. She wanted to live longer than anyone else in her family. In her own words she was “a tough ol’ broad”. She got her wish, but sadly passed away at 90 just after I got married, and just before we had children. We were actually on the way to give here the news, and to show her the ultrasounds, when she passed away.
My sons Liam and Ethan never got to know this great-grandmother, but I think they’ve absorbed something genetically, and I hope they grow up to thinking about living within their means, and about service to others.
It’s hard. I know I’ve spent my own money on some silly things, or in ways that are not in my best long-term interest. But, I try. I work hard to do the things we do. We’ve been able to go on some great adventures. We’ve explored national parks, climbed the highest mountains, and visited some great places in the United States. On the service front, we volunteer a lot. I spend hundreds of hours every year. They kids are both Boy Scouts. Liam’s an Eagle. Ethan’s working on it. They’ve also had, or will have, service opportunities with church, Honor Society, and other youth programs.
The next generation faces great challenges ahead. I’m not sure they are as capable of handling the struggles as the “greatest” generation was. They have been given too much. They have become entitled – or at least feel entitled – to many things. I try to make sure that my kids know this, and know that they have to work for things, and plan for things, and know that service is important.
I’m concerned about the massive debts and snowballing obligations our generation is leaving them. They are already facing a tough economy, higher costs of living, higher federal taxes, global competition, and ridiculously expensive college bills (one year of college costs over twice as much as my parent’s first house).
When I’m reviewing city expenses, or voting on a budget, or trying to convince government to make changes in the way things are done, I’m thinking about the grandmothers and the next generations.
When the city spends money on certain things, I think about which envelope that money is coming out of, or what the next generation is going to have to give up in order to pay for this. Will my kids be able to take their kids on great adventures? Or, will they struggle to make ends meet and pay their taxes?
Is it fair to waste taxes that are being paid using the limited income, or life savings, of our parents and grandparents? Is it fair to further burden the future generations?
I hope you think about these things when you drive by the granite pillars or the massive gazebo that will hardly ever be used, or when you read about the deficit spending and snowballing obligations that have become a way of life in government.
I hope you think about your parents, grandparents, and children when you vote next week.
It’s time for a dramatic change in the way things are done in government. New leadership is sorely needed.
I’ve been honored to serve for six years as your city councilor. I hope I’ve earned your confidence and your vote for re-election on Tuesday.
Sincerely,
Dave Flaherty
City Councilor At-Large
