Dear colleagues, It has been my privilege and honor to serve on the ICANN's GNSO Council, supporting the noncommercial users' interests while understanding better the interests of the other stakeholders. Some of you may, or may not, remember how quietly I came in, and how quiet "activist" I have grown, eventually. That is just because I've learned a lot from our collective deliberations and from you individually. Thank you for that. Power dynamics are in all groups, and it can be expected so - even more so where interest groups are instituted. But it has been a joy to see beyond that the meaningful dialog that can take place among individuals who care to understand the needs of the broader community of users, while not neglecting those of the suppliers for a wide and sustainable availability of, access to, and use of the Internet around the world. I appreciated, particularly and among other things, the physical meetings that fostered such dialogs and understanding with my fellow councilors. Many thanks to you all, to the staff (special mention to Glen, always) to the two chairs I've seen, and the vice chair for your dedicated effort to help make all that (plus various demands and expectations from the community) a reality. Like my distinguished fellow, Mr. Ross Rader, I'd like to drop a thought - not exactly an exquisite literary one, but rather an (in-)famous adage, at least some time ago in the high political sphere in France where I learned it from, the translation being my own: "God save me from my friends, for my enemies (opponents), I can take care of that!" Thanks for your thought, as I heard, in L.A, and good luck! Mawaki