Newspapers can also nourish soul
One local person’s warning about the affect of Covid
The Front Page
Morning Update
Sunday, December 5, 2021
By Ken Tingley
The columns were published on two Christmas Eves 23 years apart.
You see, part of a newspaper’s role is also to nourish your soul, to make you think about your life and reflect on what you have instead of what you think you need.
Here is part of what I wrote in the first one in 1996:
“So here I was Monday night winding my way through some backroad somewhere outside Greenwich as I tried to follow the tail lights of Steve Wright’s car. It was the first day of my vacation. I should have been home with my wife and 10-month-old son having dinner. That Christmas card changed that.”
The card was from a man I had done business with who I didn’t know well. But he had been given the greatest gift of all that Christmas season: The gift of life.
We forget about those simple pleasures amidst the bustle of the holiday season.
I found his Christmas card sitting with that day’s mail. It was one of those business Christmas cards thanking you for your business. But Steve always managed to add his personal touch with a handwritten note, thought or quotation.
This one stopped me in my tracks:
“This has been a wonderful year for me. I’ve had many opportunities to spend
with my wife and children working on our farm, riding our horses and playing with our dogs. I’ve had the opportunity to teach my 16-year-old son, Leslie, to drive and share his job in having his license. But my greatest satisfaction has been to watch him run and laugh and work and eat. To watch him live.”
As a brand new father, I appreciated the sentiment. But you can’t possibly appreciate the simplicity of the message without understanding the fear and angst that went before it.
So a few days before that Christmas I made the trek to Greenwich and sat down with Steve and Michelle Wright to talk about their upcoming Christmas and why this one was so special, But I also had to describe the nightmare they went through.
“A lot of people don’t get the second chances,” Steve said at one point that evening. “There were a lot of people on the ward that evening who didn’t get that chance.”
That gives you a hint of what came next.
The story is one of the first ones in my book “The Last American Editor.”
When I was selecting the stories for the book, I knew I had to include the story “One family’s very merry Christmas.” It is worth reading every year as a reminder of what we have and should cherish.
But here was the best part about putting it in the book. I got to check in with Steve again and ask about his family, but specifically about his son, what he was doing nearly 25 years later and how it all turned out.
I read the story again this week.
It is a story that restores your soul and reminds us all of what is important.
So here I am sitting at my breakfast table with my wife next to me with a ridiculous looking snowman baseball cap covering her head and surrounded by Christmas creations she immerses us in each year. Too often I take them for granted.
The supply chain problems are not a worry right now.
Washington’s politics is on the back burner.
I know what is important.
And she is sitting right across from me.
One person’s experience
After writing again about the pandemic and the increasing cases of Covid-19 in our community, I stumbled onto a Facebook post from Peter Buckley on Friday. I commented that every person should read of his experience. I will share it here:
“Just heard that the Glens Falls ICU is full and that all Covid patients are not vaccinated. In January of 2020, I ended up in the ICU with what they suspected was Covid. There was no testing yet but they wrote on my paperwork that it was likely. It was awful. I couldn't breathe and thought I was going to die that week. And for three days I could not find a hospital that would even take me because they were all full. Finally, after almost falling down while trying to walk, I woke up in my bed with my girlfriend Sandra praying on my chest. She drove me to the emergency room where I waited for 12 hours because that hospital wouldn't take my insurance. Finally, they found one who would and I was taken by an ambulance to another hospital where I spent the next six days in the ICU. It was the worst medical experience of my life and I am someone who fought cancer for 2 years, had 4 types of chemo, 2 years of dialysis, and 2 transplants. And I was never in as much pain or as close to death as I was in January 2020. And just because you don't die from something doesn't mean that it won't affect you for life. Just ask me. So don't give me the BS about survival rates. My health will never be the same even though I am still alive. Don't let the same thing happen to you.”
Share Peter’s message with as many people of possible. Everyone in our community needs to hear about it.
Elective surgery
Glens Falls Hospital is one of 56 hospitals in the state that may be forced to eliminate elective surgery in the coming weeks because of the Covid-19 outbreak. Albany Medical Center and Saratoga Hospital are also on the list.
Hospital officials told WNYT that it was still trying to figure out what it all means.
The executive order from the governor went into effect Friday.
Lee to fight takeover
Lee Enterprises, which owns The Post-Star, Auburn Citizen and Buffalo News in New York State, is fighting a takeover bid by the hedge fund Alden Global Capital. That’s good news for journalism and our local community.
Alden has a reputation for taking over newspapers, gutting the staff and content so it can make more money.
Lee filed a notice this week to fight Alden’s attempt to nominate three candidates for the Lee Board of Directors.
Stay tuned.
Everyone should realize that the people in their lives are what’s most important in life"
As someone who was told my surgery would be done in December, thanks to the spiraling numbers of new cases, my hospital, Albany Medical Center, has pushed my surgery into January. After seeing the list of acceptable procedures for out patient surgery, I feel I'll be in limbo.
I've had a non-functioning arm since June following a serious traumatic break. Four months of therapy has failed to return function. Surgery is my last option. When surgery will occur is anyone's guess. Will there be a window for me to have surgery or will that window close and my fate is sealed. I am fully vaccinated, boostered, masked, shop early to avoid crowds and am being penalized by people who refuse to do their share for the greater good. I am but one of many patients waiting, and waiting, and waiting.........