Losses should remind us of what we have

By Alonzo Weston

We’re fresh into a new year now and some are looking back, tallying up what we’ve lost and what we’ve gained so far.

Last year was my first holiday season without my mother. It still hurts. I lost a mother but gained a new granddaughter. God gives back.

We as a community lost some important members of our family as well. Three are men who meant a lot to me and our community, Bill Scott, Bob Waldrop and Dr. Robert Stuber. If I left anyone out it’s a mistake of the mind, not the heart. Those three men I mentioned meant a lot to me personally. I’m sure we lost others that meant a lot to us all.

You would not know Alonzo Weston the writer if not for Bob Waldrop and Bill Scott. Waldrop hired me and Scott mentored me as city editor of the St. Joseph News-Press.

Bob Waldrop was a good, strong man but very strict. He took a chance and hired me at a time when there were no minority reporters on staff at the paper. It was a challenge that worked out, I suppose.

I owe much of my writing style and some of my demeanor to Bill Scott. He was the one who told me to “write for the guy in the pickup truck.”

That meant writing about everyday things in an easy, conversational manner so everyone could understand.

I also admire Bill for the way he handled irate readers and controversy. “Hey brother,” Bill would say to anyone who came into the office. His calm, easygoing style diffused a lot of situations. I worked hard on that quality to not much success. The only one who comes close to how Bill Scott handled controversy is Steve Booher, the news director now. Booher has the same easygoing, let’s-calm-down-and-talk-about-it style as Bill did. He learned it well.

Dr. Stuber had a heart as big as the city for the poor and underprivileged of our community. He was a slightly built man with a big heart who fought for and supported the least of us with his medical expertise and caring.

Yes, 2023 took a lot from me, from all of us. And 2024 will no doubt take more. The lesson here is to appreciate the people we have in our lives now as one of our resolutions.

We can’t recoup those losses but we can sure make new gains by honoring those heroes we have left. Honor those elders in your family, honor the old man in the veteran ball cap, honor the people in health care and law enforcement. It’s about relishing what you already have rather than getting more in the new year.