Archive » December 2022 » Editorials

Losses, lessons, and legacies

Together, these seven people who died in 2022 lived for 587 years — well over half a millennium. Surely, their deaths have left gaping holes in the lives of their families and those who loved them. Their deaths were also a loss for our community at large. But, in reading about their lives for this year-end review, we felt more than loss. We felt comfort and joy. Why? Because each has left behind a legacy for the community. As you read their stories, maybe you will feel that comfort and joy, too. And perhaps you will feel inspired, as we have, to learn from the way they lived their lives.

Christmas time: A kind, forgiving, charitable time to freely open your heart

by Melissa Hale-Spencer

It was my daughter’s birthday and I wanted to bake her favorite cake this year — chocolate-zucchini.

I often write late and then do household chores after. I had all the ingredients I needed except the zucchini.

Loneliness is a malady as ancient as Adam and as current as COVID

We see Frank Pezze as a beacon of hope, a light to guide us in a time of dark loneliness.

In mapping our future, we must learn by looking through the lens of indigenous cultures

Robin Wall Kimmerer’s wisdom comes not just from her scientific knowledge as an ethnobotanist but from her understanding of nature and human nature — including language — through the lens of indigenous culture. The waves of newcomers to America’s shores — starting with the very first European settlers — have not properly understood nor learned from the indigenous cultures trampled in the name of progress. This is true not only in our economic system but in our justice system as well.

Life and death in the parking lot: Hospitals must respond

It is crucial for hospitals to work with emergency medical services to shorten wait times. Federal law makes the hospital responsible for a patient once an ambulance reaches hospital property, and EMS remaining with the patient is voluntary.