"BUSINESS!'' cried the Ghost, wring- ing its hands again. ''Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!''

So speaks the ghost of Jacob Marley to his old partner, Ebenezer Scrooge in Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."

The difficult economic times and the wars we are engaged in cause us to worry and perhaps to fear.

Here at Germanna Community College, our budget has been cut and will be cut further in the new year--and state tax revenues seem likely to be moribund for up to two more years.

Around us, and perhaps in our families, there are those who are out of work, some now into their second year of unemployment, some perhaps having given up. Loved ones are serving their country, and some are in harm's way.

We have seen the evil that results when some believe their own narrowest self-interest is all that matters, when they best even Scrooge in ignoring Want and Ignorance for their own wealth or fanatical belief.

During times such as these, the work we do every day at Germanna rises to an even higher level of importance and meaning. Our students, their families and communities, our commonwealth and our nation are looking to Germanna and other community colleges for real hope--hope through valuable skills that lead to good work with good pay.

As we come to the end of another year and the holidays that fall at that time, it is good to reflect as well as celebrate. We at Germanna are blessed to have a mission that does indeed serve mankind.