Jay Cronley: A thank you to readers, who persevere in a nutty year
BY JAY CRONLEY World Staff Columnist
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
12/25/12 at 4:18 AM
This time of the year seems right for expressing thanks.
Take some time off from the problems and chiselers and the heartbreak, take a deep breath and think nice.
Christmas Day has become a quickie break from foreboding economic matters. Life is so complicated, elementary manners raise eyebrows: Oh really? Thanks, you say? What's that supposed to mean? What's in it for you?
Grim news aside, I would like to take a moment to thank the readers.
That's right, you, nicknames and all.
No shortage of bad news: This year has been tough to follow - a nation split by politics, a world depressed by a killer of kids, a city gone bonkers over the lust for some kind of improvement money, leaders without a cause.
And then there was the fairgrounds situation where the big building was and then wasn't and then was and then wasn't going to be named for a convenience store or an Indian tribe, and where there might be or could be or wouldn't be or should be or wasn't going to be or was going to be after all, live horse racing.
Forget who was on first.
Who was the manager of any of our teams?
We have had to read about jobs leaving and crimes flashing.
In-state sports teams have provided some relief, led by the Thunder, which has put team gear on kids living in the sticks.
Comic relief has been provided by the outbreak of road construction sites - on a recent trip to the airport, I missed turns going east and then going west after turning around - and by the formation of yet another task force.
Our most recent task force is, I believe, a task force to study task forces, and could be our 1,000th task force; congratulations, kids.
A preference for paper: There will always be newspapers; which is to say that there will always be purveyors of the news, there will always be writers and reporters and editors.
What's the difference in writers and reporters? Writers write. Reporters report.
The outlet for the news and writing will be your choice, paper or screen or both.
I'm a paper person first. Without pages to read, they could go ahead and cancel breakfast.
Skilled people will always be read.
Lots of readers read without saying much.
The bravest points are signed and appear on paper pages. The loudest points often come across the Internet, which makes for an interesting reading club.
This year has been a hard read.
Thanks for the company.
Original Print Headline: A thank you, readers, who persevere in a nutty year
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