Tangibles, intangibles originated from time capsule.

I was feeling little long in the tooth last month, and for a change it had nothing to I do with the lower back, the gout, the increased amount of hair in my ears, or wheezing on a Stairmaster getting ready for the annual Whoosi ski trip.

The president of the Whoosi ski club has actually skied with us for many years, which gives you an idea of our charter.

But I digress.

The long teeth had to do with a time capsule I had indirectly helped to bury nearly a quarter of a century ago.

It was done in conjunction with an economic development group I co-chaired back then called Sudbury 2001.

We asked students and interest groups to tuck away their thoughts and dreams into this little capsule and we undertook to open it, weather permitting, in the year 2001.

The capsule was buried in the new provincial building (new in 1978) at the civic square in Sudbury.

We had all pretty much forgotten about it except for our official historian, keeper of the keys, and philosopher king, Narasim Katary, who never forgets anything.

Anyway, the keeper, had been on to us about this obligation to open the capsule for some time. He was not getting a whole lot of help, until one day last spring there was a press release from the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines saying that among other things, the minister would be opening a time capsule on one of his next visits to the community.

What time capsule? Since when do ministries plant time capsules in Sudbury, much less open them?

Hummmmm. Could it be? Could that be ours? A flurry of phone calls did not help much. No one seemed to know anything about it.

Our ministry contacts confirmed that it was some kind of time capsule buried in the provincial building, but they did not know what it is, who buried it, or why it is there. What they did know was that it was time to open it because they had found a memo saying this thing was supposed to be opened in the year 2001.

Of course, immediately upon hearing someone else might be opening our precious time capsule, we moved from indifference to indignity and sprang into action.

We called the minister's office and laid claim to our capsule, which he and his staff were only too happy to give up. The key word I think would be bemused.

In any event the result was perfectly delightful celebration, which was marked with a public unveiling of the capsule hosted by the mayors' office, and a smaller dinner comprising the original founders and participants in the Sudbury 2001 process. A number, but by no means a majority, had scattered to different locales, and of course some are no longer with us.

The most astonishing part of the day was the realization that so much had been accomplished. There were the tangibles, like the theatre centre that got built, the greening of Sudbury, which was a miracle, the establishment of the Science Centre, the building of College Boreal, the snatching of the taxation data center, and an innovative community partnership built around the new YMCA facility.

Less tangible, but more important were the bridges that were built between people. It was the spirit of 2001 that lived, through any number of reincarnations over the years, which has helped the city cope with astonishing reductions in resource-based employment.

It does make you think. The dreams in the capsule were big dreams, not little ones. Parents writing about aspirations for their children, kids painting pictures of what the city might look like in a quarter century, and of course leaders, both official and unofficial, putting their two cents in.

The test of time is an interesting one. What one remembers are not the minutia, but the acts of kindness, and courage.

We dutifully, refilled our capsule with current material and took it back to its resting place at the provincial building.

It will be a stretch for me to attend this event in 25 years, but thanks to computers I have put, it in my calendar.

The question is whether or not I will have any teeth at all.

Michael Atkins is president of Laurentian Publishing.