Truth and light offer hope

Julie Reeder

Publisher

This week I’ve been reminded of one of the things that makes the newspaper important. It offers people hope.

A person called us who believes a senior is being taken advantage of in our community by a younger person who has moved in, is dangerous, and is keeping the senior from their regular caregiver, friends, health care etc. This lady had called the authorities, which in this case was Oceanside Police, and the county with no apparent resolution. After getting her story we were able to assist by calling the police and then calling the county ourselves to file a report of suspected elder abuse. She was hopeful that since the paper was involved, it would be taken more seriously this time. While I’m not sure of all the previous activity, I believe there is hope that a positive outcome will prevail.

As citizens we are typically hopeful that we will receive the help we need from police, fire, school or government agencies that we pay to be there in situations where we need help. Sometimes that fails for whatever reason and hopefully the paper can help shine a light on the breakdown to help the person or group. Truth in the light of day is powerful in itself. Sometimes it’s just a communication breakdown. Sometimes it’s more.

We’ve had a few readers stop in our office and say they appreciate the fact that we are digging just a little bit deeper and reporting on important issues related to COVID. Education is truly power. One issue has to do with informed consent and vaccines. People who are being forced to take the shot are asking how they can truly make that decision if the ingredients of the shots are not even available? Especially in light of hundreds of thousands of reported adverse events and 20,000 deaths. The courts have denied Pfizer the 75 years they said they needed to reveal what the ingredients actually include and gave them eight months instead. But for now, the insert in the package has a blank piece of paper instead of the information that is usually given.

Newspaper readers are typically more educated and more informed. Instead of just being entertained by nightly news, they are more likely to think critically and it gives them hope to be informed and at least to be part of the debate.

Hope is given to readers through stories of local people working together to accomplish meaningful work like feeding the hungry, or those helping victims of car crashes, as happened this week. It provides concrete evidence that people are fundamentally good and if we work together good things happen.

It gives people hope when they read the Student of the Month stories by offering confidence that the next generation may indeed be able to stand on the shoulders of the previous generations.

Hope springs forth when those same students along with others, including student athletes are featured in the paper and given the attention they deserve, not only from their community, but also from potential scouts, colleges and universities who read those stories. We enjoy providing that confirmation of their hard work and giving our readers a vehicle to support the students.

Sometimes the paper gives hope by printing bad news, for instance with low test scores at our schools. The hope lies in facing the hard truth so that people can work together to do something about it.

The newspaper provides hope to businesses that when their products and services are communicated to the community they will gain customers and continue to be able to support their family and their community, which is extremely important as well. It in turn gives us hope when you support our advertisers. Thank you for supporting us by supporting our advertisers. It really makes a difference.

Truth is the foundation we stand on and by doing so, it offers hope, which sometimes is all we have in the interim until others have time to stand with us.