Hi, so glad you stopped by!
I created this blog site for a few reasons. One was to satisfy my love of writing about subjects that I am passionate about, and secondly to share what knowledge and opinions I have in the hope that it may resonate with some of you and possibly assist you on your life's journey. If nothing else I might add a perspective you share or haven't heard of before or blog on a topic of interest.
My life has been blessed in so many ways. I have 5 of the brightest and most wonderful children anyone could ever ask for, and they are blessing me even more with beautiful grandchildren. They are productive members of society, family oriented, hard working and community minded.
I was fortunate to have been born in 1961 and raised in a small farming community in the Province of Saskatchewan (Canada). We were surrounded by family and friends. Everyone I knew, all of my mentors, were farmers or small business owners. I always say we never had much, but we had everything.
My upbringing groomed my values that include the value of a hard days work, integrity, community involvement and personal accountability. These traits, among others, are standards that I have strived to keep throughout my business and personal life.
Staying true to oneself is hard and I am certainly not perfect. I have made choices and decisions that have hurt not only myself but others as well. But most of us make mistakes and we have a choice, we can feel guilt and shame or we can apologize to the affected parties and forgive ourselves. Without personal forgiveness we will never offer our best version of ourselves to the world. And there is no better vocation than bringing a positive attitude, humility and joy to others.
In my opinion, if we live with authenticity and a guarded ego we are our genuine selves. And people easily recognize genuine from fake. They recognize what you are made of, your substance.
I am a strong advocate for the values of freedom of speech, personal liberty and the truth. We live in an age that requires discernment on everything we read or hear. We are living in a time so different than the innocence of my youth. Some say we can never go back there, that those were the good old days and I vehemently disagree. But we must stand strong together as a community and not allow the powers that be, whether that is the media or politicians drive a wedge between us. If we value our freedoms we must understand the importance of discernment. Discernment and, that true Knowledge is Power. (stay curious folks)
As a child, my paternal and maternal grandparents lived nearby as did my aunts, uncles and cousins. Family gatherings were plentiful and the joy of community events was truly a great thrill. All lived nearby except for one family, who lived in the greater Toronto area. I mention that as they had experiences that shaped their lives differently than ours. I love them all as dearly as the others and may blog about that one day.
My love for family and this great province I have lived in my entire life, along with my belief in individual rights and freedoms are what motivates me to put myself "out there" and face the public scrutiny. As you may know, I was running for public office in October 2020 when I was "cancelled" by the media and my own political party. I will write more of this as well but it has impacted me in ways I cannot explain here. It was a horrible experience but came disguised as a gift.
My bio is pretty straightforward. I am a proud father of 5 with a growing brood of beautiful grandchildren.
As mentioned, I have spent my entire life in this Province and 38 of those years was in finance. Fourteen yrs as a banker and 24 yrs as owner of Cooper Wealth Management. I sold my business in 2019 to a couple of amazing younger Advisors and am currently exploring other life experiences and business opportunities.
I have been blessed and love life to its fullest, well, most days :)!
And while I am concerned about the current state of the world I will not allow fear to rule my life. This is what drives my passion for public service and serves my curiosity for the truth. Don't get me wrong, there are days when I look at what is going on in this world that I feel like packing my bags and moving to a remote island and write children's books.
But I feel I have an obligation to my family that they can live the life I did so running away would be selfish. That and I'd miss my kids.
I have the energy, the drive and the commitment to do my best make a difference to keep this province strong, or at least go down fighting. It takes courage to step up, something I haven't always had but as they say, when you reach a certain age not much scares you.
God Bless each and every one of you.
"Love for all, hatred for none and anger gets you nowhere."
With that said, much love and stay strong!
Daryl Cooper
