Every year, the editorial that coincides with the holidays is light-hearted and full of good wishes. As always, we wish our readers the very at the holiday season. But looking back at a year full of meaningless death, abjection, bullying, natural disasters, international turmoil, not to mention the hard times many in our own communities are enduring, we can’t help but go into the most wonderful time of the year with heavy hearts.
As we go about our daily lives, we typically don’t anticipate anything earth shattering to happen to us. But on any given day, tragedy strikes, and it does not discriminate. Many of us couldn’t imagine the paralyzing horror that strikes the heart of any parent who hears the news of a mass shooting at their child’s school, or the debilitating grief of those who have lost loved ones to disease, car accidents, overdose, suicide, etc. These events are devastating enough, but if they happen to be concurrent to a holiday, the blow is doubled.
For many, the happiest time of the year can be their saddest and most difficult. That cranky customer or disgruntled server could be reliving a pain we couldn’t bear, so we mustn’t withhold kindness from anyone.
For the last few weeks, I have gone to many chartable events and have witness such goodwill towards our fellow man I can’t stop from welling up with a feeling that mankind is not lost, only hidden. I wish more people could see what I see, these simple gestures leave a great impact on the world.
Being in the news industry can be quite difficult, as we tend to see more of the ugly side of the world than most. Of course, we see the good, too, but good news stories seem to be far and few between.
We urge you to reach out to your loved ones and get together in the true spirit of the holidays – a spirit not centered around gifts and material goods and feverish bouts of shopping, but around love and appreciation of those close to us.
Will there ever be Peace on Earth? More than likely not. Why do bad things happen to good people and why people do such horrific things to each other is a question that may never have an answer. Regardless, we shouldn’t turn our lives into bastions of fear. Instead, we should try to learn from the spirit of the Christmas season, keep those bereaving in our hearts and despite the harshest part of human nature, work sincerely toward “Peace on Earth and good will toward men.” Lets hope for the New Year!