Pagosa Country is in the midst of a span of time that has been difficult, but has also highlighted so much good and that we are a part of something special.
Most notably and at the front of most of our minds is the back-to-back flooding we just experienced.
It brought heartache, fear and destruction. It brought back memories of last year and fear for what the future might hold.
But it’s also brought out a lot of care, compassion, generosity and resilience.
As Sheriff Mike Le Roux said earlier this week, we are a resilient community and this community has shown an overwhelming amount of support.
“Our resilience is showing through,” he said.
We agree. We have seen and shown that Pagosa Springs and Archuleta County are truly a community worth bragging about.
And, again, we will highlight the fantastic work of our incident management and first responders. To get through as many major floods as we have without injury or worse it nothing short of amazing.
That resiliency was also on display with our local election this week.
Local and state officials were quick to work around numerous difficulties related to the flooding and find ways to allow Archuleta County’s voters to speak their minds at the polls, regardless of the circumstances. Their hard work, problem solving and passion for elections helped us contribute to something so much greater than ourselves — democracy.
This place and the people in it continue to surprise us, mostly for the good.
Like we said last week, we’re honored to call this place home.
Next week, we get to again focus on something much larger than ourselves — honoring our nation’s veterans — on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.
These brave men and women have served in times of peace and war, stateside and around the world, to help keep our country and all we hold dear about it safe.
For that, we are deeply grateful.
Over the years, we’ve had the opportunity to cover numerous events that put our veterans at the forefront, such as the annual ceremonies and the Veterans Day breakfast hosted by local eighth-graders. These events teach and remind folks of all ages that there is much to be learned from our veterans, and much that we can so easily find ourselves taking for granted as we go through our everyday lives in peace, without much fear of being attacked by other nations on our own soil.
We’ve watched students listening attentively as they hear stories from veterans while looking through scrapbooks, records and other items shared by the veterans.
We’ve seen veterans brought to tears, feeling like their service is truly appreciated — in some instances for the first time.
This year we again look forward to our local veterans having a time to shine, to be appreciated and thanked, and to serve and honor them after they put their lives on the line for us.
We hope you’ll join in the celebration of their patriotism, love for our country and willingness to be part of something so much bigger.
If you are or have been a part of our military, thank you for your service.
Randi Pierce
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