A year ago, at this time I wrote a column with firm roots in the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, the omicron variant of the infection was a new threat and it looked like we were locked in essentially a long twilight struggle with the pandemic.

The pandemic is still with us. COVID-19 is still dangerous but the all-hands-on-deck sentiment that ruled our state and our region over the virus for two years has receded.

I’d like to believe that key lessons were learned during the height of the pandemic by state and federal officials. I’d also like to believe that those lessons are being studied so they can be implemented in the future when another pandemic — and there will be another one — arrives on our shores.

As I look back on 2022, there is no doubt COVID cast a long shadow but I recall writing last year about the grit and determination the people in our region exhibited during the pandemic.

I think one hallmark of our region is a strong sense of resolve and fortitude. The COVID crisis carried the potential to derail many of our institutions yet it did not because of the people who live in our great region.

That’s another reason why I believe highlighting the people who live, work and play in our region within the pages of the EO Media Group’s papers is important.

News and information, of course, are big priorities but so is the ability to highlight those who live here. We all come from different walks of life with varied goals and lives, but collectively we represent a type of culture that does not give up easily and people who are resilient and filled with purpose.

Those qualities are why being a journalist in this area is so rewarding. I often talk and write about subjects specific to the newspaper industry but I always try to remind myself that, in the end, it is the people, the reader, that counts the most.

We as a region — and a nation — face serious challenges that do not lend themselves to quick answers. We must understand our wisdom does not come from an omnipotent source, but from ourselves. We are humans and therefore flawed and open to making mistakes.

Yet we are also a people, a region, that embraces challenges and overcomes them. I don’t know what 2022 will have in store for us but I know, based on covering the events during the past two years ignited by COVID-19, we have the tools to be successful.

Our job, of course, will remain fixed on delivering timely, local news to our readers across the region. We will never cease in trying to get better for you, the reader.