EDITORIAL: The spirit of community burns bright

The gifts have been opened, wrapping paper and ribbons in a pile and a year’s worth of sugar calories consumed. Young and old alike still lounging in their jammies while the aromas of the holiday meal preparation drift in from the kitchen. With luck, family and friends who traveled arrived in time, without delays, to celebrate and hug their loved ones in front of the fire and under the mistletoe.

We’ve read about and personally witnessed so many heartwarming stories of the holiday in our communities this month, the Spirit of Christmas burning bright in every corner. Don’t we wish that this spirit of the season would last throughout the year? 

To borrow from the fabled 1897 editorial which appeared in the New York newspaper, The Sun, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know they abound and give to our life its highest beauty and joy.” 

Yes, Press reader, there is the spirit of the season throughout every season in this extraordinary place we call home. Many of the stories of kindness and generosity appear regularly on these pages in March and August and October, in every season. For each of the stories we publish there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of good deeds and acts of service that go unnoticed, done quietly and without fanfare. Their impact is enormous, even if unseen. 

So don’t lament the end of the Christmas holidays … here in Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, Hayden, Rathdrum, Spirit Lake, Athol and in Hauser, Huetter, Worley and Fernan, the spirit of community, of neighborliness and caring, is alive and well.  

Believe.