Our Opinion / Happy Holidays everyone and to each of you a Happy New Year.

Editorial | December 23rd, 2015

We Have Each Other

It’s been the tradition here at HPR that we always take the last week of December and the first week of January off as a holiday break. And to give each of us a bit of time to reflect and visualize going forward into our next year.

Of course, at times like this, we wax nostalgic, too. There’s no doubt a lot of water under the bridge. Two decades plus, in fact.

And it gives us pause so as to think about what’s next. Creative stirrings, or something like that.

You see, we have a lot for which we can be thankful. For all of you, for starters. If HPR did not have such a loyal following of thousands upon thousands of you, week in and week out, year after year, we’d not have much to acknowledge and to celebrate.

But we do. We have each other.

Some of you are relatively new to the High Plains Reader. Maybe you’ve moved here to launch a new career, or perhaps you went to college here, or just possibly your parents introduced you to “their” paper so as to carry on a family legacy of sorts.

Others of you have been around for a long time. You’ve been around the block more than a few times. Oftentimes, we have shared some of those journeys, or have gotten to know each other, or have helped each other. You might have offered up story ideas. Or you introduced us to a new advertiser who’d be a good fit in your mind. Or you’ve contributed for HPR in some way, shape or form. No matter, it’s part of your entire adult life for thousands of you.

And, of course, there are some folks who simply can’t stand that left-leaning, socially liberal rag that’s done things like prop up writers like Ed Raymond (God forbid!) for so many years.

No worries, it takes all of us to a community make.

And that’s what this is all about. This relationship we share. This process and this interaction we’ve all evolved through the years.

Community.

It’s no secret at all that our early years were challenging and that at times we were not sure we’d even survive through it all. But we did. And we’re still here and we’re becoming stronger and more of a voice of the ordinary people, because we’ve learned that life’s not always easy and we’ve grown from that.

We have that in common with each of you as well. Life is not the piece of cake we’d typically want it to be. It takes courage, determination, stamina and raw faith to sometimes simply go on to the next day. This much we know about you, our extended family, as well. We have that common bond. And, to continue with that for a moment, we all know how important it is to have others out there who provide hope, who see goodness in each other as opposed to seeing faults, shortcomings, failures and weaknesses.

We’re all in that same boat together. And what a gift each of you is to us here at HPR especially. Because without you, we’d be nothing.

So, onward we all go. Soon it will be a new year and soon spring will dawn upon us. Soon we’ll see more moments of hurt and of glee as that’s simply the way things are and, in fact, should be.

Very soon, we’ll be on our very much valued short little vacation. And then soon after that, we’ll be back at it doing the best we can to deliver you “The Best Little Newspaper That Could” possible.

Thanks to each and all of you from the bottoms of our heart. Thanks for being you and for allowing us into your precious worlds. We could not be wealthier, truly, especially when measured by the company we keep.

Happy Holidays everyone and to each of you a Happy New Year. HPR will be back on the streets come Jan. 14, 2016.

We Have Each Other

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