Meet your town: Your never know when a story is standing right next to you

You have probably heard the phrase, “Everybody has a story.” And, if you are like most people, you don’t think about your neighbors, your friends or the people who pass by you every week at the grocery store, when it comes to finding those stories.

But if you looked closer, you might find out you just passed an emergency room nurse who the night before saved someone’s life, a school leader who could work anywhere but chose to make a difference here or a U.S. Air Force captain who just won the nation’s highest flying honor.

You might even be looking at one of a pair of twin brothers who work as paramedics, a woman who has served you lunch and now serves your child or a man who has put decades into the game of baseball.

Those are just a few of the people we have met during our journey that became this year’s News-Argus Progress edition — “Portraits.”

Even we were surprised by just how many people we found with stories to tell — and just how much more there was to know about some of the people whose names were already familiar to us.

We hope you will enjoy meeting them — or re-meeting them — as much as we did.

This year’s Progress edition is part of our ongoing effort to share the stories of the people who make Wayne County great. If you watch our paper over the next few months, you will start to see even more of this sort of storytelling mixed in with our local, state and national news coverage.

It is also a chance for us to encourage you to take a look around to get to know your community — and some of the people who live here. It is astonishing how many people have a life lesson to teach or an achievement to inspire simply by sharing their own experiences.

And as you might expect, very few of them think their stories are exceptional.

These days, we find more ways to disconnect from each other. We are all so busy with our own lives that we forget just how much there is to learn right here at home. We forget about our everyday heroes and those who have done extraordinary things for their community. We don’t take the time to get to know each other.

Today is a chance to change all that.

If after reading “Portraits”, you think of someone else we should meet, call us. We are always looking for a chance to share some of your stories.

And the next time you pass your neighbor in a store, strike up a conversation. You never know who you will meet or the story you might hear.

Published in Editorials on February 28, 2007 11:53 AM