Santa can deliver community gifts

Some letters to Santa from local children ran in Friday’s special Christmas Greetings section.

More will be printed in the Christmas Eve newspaper.

But what about us?

And by us, we don’t mean the newspaper staff. We mean the community.

What things would we, the Jay County Community, like Santa Claus to bring us on Wednesday and throughout the coming year?

Well, here’s our Christmas list for the community that we’ll send up to the North Pole along with all of those letters from children that were dropped off at our office or emailed in to us.

•The ability to get along despite our political differences. We might as well have Santa deliver this one throughout the state and country as well. Political differences, from the national level to the local, are always going to be a reality. But having different political ideas shouldn’t damage friendships or come between family members. We’d all be better off if we left the politics at the ballot box (and far away from social media) and put friendship ahead of fighting. Maybe Santa can help us out with that.

•Greater community involvement. If you think one person, or a handful of people, can’t make a difference, think again. There’s already a long list of examples. Conny Knight and her daughter Kadie got Secret Families of Jay County started just a few years ago and it now serves more than 100 families. Chrissy Krieg and her Jay County High School National Honor Society students have spear-headed to Feed My Starving Children MobilePack events to help feed the hungry across the globe. Randy Davis launched A Better Life – Brianna’s Hope, which has grown to help those struggling with addiction through 36 chapters in 24 counties in Indiana and Ohio. Maybe Santa can help give more of us the gumption to get off the couch and get involved. A little effort can make a big difference.

•Faith. Jay County High School senior Sara Muhlenkamp, who on Wednesday was named this year’s Lilly Endowment Community Scholar, shared that her essay answer about how to improve the community was to increase faith. She was talking about religious faith. But it can also have meaning beyond that. So we wish for Santa to bring us faith in the form of religious belief, for those to whom that applies, but also for faith in our family, faith in our friends, faith in our community, faith in our leaders and faith that we can continue to make this community a great place to live.

•The Stellar Communities designation. Santa probably has little influence over the state government offices in Indianapolis, but his efforts surely couldn’t hurt. So, assuming the Jay County region will be an applicant again, we ask him for a little boost to help support all of the hard work that will be undertaken by the local leadership team. The designation would make an incredible impact on this community long after Santa and his reindeer have come and gone next year. So here’s hoping we’re hosting a “Stellarbration” in December 2020.

•Finally, for health and happiness for everyone in our community. We know we all won’t always be healthy. And we know we all won’t always be happy. But the higher percentage of both of those things we can achieve, the better 2020 will be.

Merry Christmas. — R.C.