Sometimes, in the midst of all the chaos and the 24-hour news cycle, we get a brief respite and change of perspective; a moment that enables us to see life more clearly, a reminder of what matters most, writes Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister in his latest column.
For McCollister, that moment happened after attending two special events this month at the LSU PMAC, an LSU graduation ceremony and a memorial service for Donald Tabb.
“One crowd was there to honor 3,500 young, graduates starting out; the other to celebrate the well-lived life of one 85-year-old man,” McCollister writes. “Both were joyous celebrations with significant meaning.”
Most graduates don’t yet realize there are no guarantees about what the future holds, and they often have little control of it, but McCollister says it’s an exciting time filled with hope. The second event was joyful, too, but in a different way. Donald Tabb was founding pastor of The Chapel on the Campus and a family friend of McCollister.
“The folks sitting on the floor of the PMAC for his service were a generation or two older than those graduates who had sat in the same chairs at the LSU graduation. Older and wiser, as life has taught us lessons that gave us a new perspective and priorities,” McCollister writes. “We realize that our children and grandchildren are so much more precious than any ‘grand prize.’”
Also in his new column, McCollister says it’s time to let the voters decide what the most effective form of government is in Ascension Parish.
“Who do taxpayers want to make the complex and costly decisions day by day: an experienced, professional city manager or a ‘good ol’ boy’ politician looking towards the next election?” McCollister writes. “I applaud the Ascension community leaders and elected officials for having this discussion and would like to see East Baton Rouge Parish do so as well. (Have you watched a Metro Council meeting lately?)”
Ascension will continue to grow and will need professional planning and management to meet challenges as they come up, he says. The parish can either choose the status quo or—if they have the courage to be innovative—be a trailblazer in Louisiana.
Read the full column, in which McCollister also salutes the talented professional women of Baton Rouge, who Business Report honors in its new 2018 Influential Women in Business issue.
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