At West Bend News we strive to distribute Good News to those around us because we firmly believe that Good News makes for Good Communities. This has been the motto of West Bend News & Print from it inception in 2005. Amid this global crisis of COVID-19, we have the power to control how we view this situation. We can choose to share fear, greed, panic … or we can choose to share calm, peace, grace, empathy, love, kindness and goodwill toward our fellow man.
Instead of over-analyzing this surreal situation that we find ourselves in, instead of worrying about where we will find our next roll of toilet paper, instead of starting the “blame game” of who started this in the first place – let’s take action like some of the photos on this page are showing — donate to your local food pantry to stock their shelves for those who find themselves without work suddenly; support the local school system’s faculty as the teachers and administration re-invent how to teach their students remotely, reach out to the shut-ins, elderly with words of encouragement — remember social distancing, of course. We were made for much more than some of the negative media coverage at the state and national levels.
This does not have to be a time of despair; it does not have to be a time of doom and gloom. Is it scary? Sure, but isn’t it much better to see people kick back, create memes, make jokes, carry on business as usual, and formulate strategies to do good for their neighbors? This feeds hope and not fear.
Photographers such as Andrea Schlueter Photography of Paulding, photo documented the first few days of meal distribution in the Paulding Exempted Village School district as she attempted to grasp the emotions rolling around in not only her mind, but the minds of her family and neighbors. Food pantry efforts have been overwhelming in Antwerp, with coordinator, Eva Elkins, and volunteers as they are working on a weekly distribution to families of Antwerp students to make sure they have enough to eat. Cecil Community Church is also ramping up their food pantry for their residents. Teachers are posting on social media like crazy to keep connected to their students’ families — videos, pictures, updates with humor just to pass the time as we wait out this period of uncertainty to come to an end.
Jesus gives us some comforting thoughts when faced with trials – Matthew 6:
“Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
The Apostle Paul writes to the church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 4:
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”
Give a shout out if you know a truck driver, a farmer, a school teacher, a janitor or custodian, a health care worker, a pharmacist, a grocery store employee or any other worker whose jobs are essential to all of our well-being. Encouraging someone else leaves less time for you to dwell in your own mind with dark thoughts. We may have a long row to hoe, people, so let’s dig in, get our hands dirty, and focus on what is and not what was or what will be. Be good to one another. Help out where you can. This too shall pass.
