Olympics: It’s hard to not be jingoistic

Opinion

August 6, 2012

Olympics: It’s hard to not be jingoistic

Editor and Publisher John H. Walker The Daily Southerner Mon Aug 06, 2012, 02:51 PM EDT

TARBORO — Sitting in from of the television, it’s hard not to be jingoistic when you see some young American on the top step of the Olympics award stand, gold medal around their neck and hand over their heart as they sing the Star Spangled Banner.

There’s that bit of pride that swells quickly as you see the Stars and Stripes above the other flags ... and, I guess, for those of us from the Cold War era and older, it means a little bit more when the trailing flags are from one of those nations that caused so much concern in that older era.

It’s been enjoyable to watch the British fans, as well, as I think their national pride rivals that of ours and, on some occasions, exceeds it.

For me, there have been some memorable moments — Gabby Douglas’ winning of the all-around title, Mo Farah and Galen Rupp finishing one-two in the 10,000 meters and then celebrating and, of course, Michael Phelps’ entry into the record books.

• • •

We encourage your participation in National Night Out on Tuesday and hope you will look for ways for it to grow.

In Big Spring, Texas, we at the Herald co-sponsored it with the Big Spring Police and Howard County Sheriff’s Department and had night out parties all across the county.

There were neighborhood cookouts held in vacant lots and residents on our street, which was two blocks long, gathered for watermelon, hamburgers, hotdogs, ice cream and music.

NNO is a great opportunity to get to know your neighbors and develop a relationship, even if it is just a passing one.

Remember ... if you recognize the faces of the people who are supposed to be in your neighborhood, it means you also recognize the faces of those who are passing through for one reason or another.

• • •

I had someone ask me why a particular story was published in the other Edgecombe County daily and not in our newspaper.

It was, they pointed out, a story that related to a number of Edgecombe County kids — including Tarboro, Pinetops and Macclesfield.

The story sounded familiar, but I told them I would check and get back with them ... and when I did, I was able to tell them we had published the story three weeks earlier.

It’s like several stories that were included in our competitors paper on Sunday ... the end of school test results that we had Friday, the Trunks for Success story we ran the Monday after the event and the Edgecombe 4H winners at State Congress that we had 11 days ago.

We don’t have the staff of that newspaper, which does a very good job of covering the news in its community, but we try to do a very good job of covering the news in our community.

And, as always, we invite and encourage your feedback. We know there will be times we get beaten on a story ... but we’ll always strive to do our best to give you a balanced and complete report.

And since you were, thanks for reading!

(John H. Walker is editor and publisher of The Daily Southerner and may be contacted at 823-3106 or editor@dailysoutherner.com.)

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