Journalists are a bit like police officers and court officials in that we often see people at their very worst.
Most reporters learn fairly quickly that there are people in the world who literally do not care who they hurt.
I was a reporter and editor for a long time and can recount dozens of stories that still make me shake my head about the cruelty some people can inflict.
It could be overwhelmingly depressing except that I also can recall dozens of stories that spotlighted someone's generosity, kindness and compassion.
After all these years, I still believe most people are good, not evil.
Last weekend, I saw good people come together to celebrate life.
I had never been to Breast Cancer Awareness-Cumberland Valley's annual Step 'n Stride fundraiser. I went this year as part of a team covering the event for a live video stream on our website, www.herald-mail.com.
I watched people celebrate the fact that they or a friend or a family member was alive because of medical advancements and aggressive educational efforts that have led to early detection and successful treatment for hundreds of people who live in our area.
Watching the survivors make the first lap in the ARCC at Hagerstown Community College was uplifting to see. I saw people laughing and crying at the same time.
The heroes of this story are the people who have faced breast cancer with courage and strength, the men and women who work to promote treatment and education yearlong in the battle against this cancer, and the people who embrace the effort and lend time and money to the cause.
It's definitely on my list of "good" stories.
The good, the bad and "Your Health Matters"
Have you seen "Your Health Matters"?
It's a new show produced by The Herald-Mail and sponsored by Meritus Health. The half-hour program airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on Antietam Cable Channel 30, and every day on the televisions in the food court at Valley Mall. You also can find it online at www.herald-mail.com in the Hot Topics list at the top of the home page.
Your Health Matters is a prime example of how the newspaper industry is changing.
As we dabbled more and more into producing video, we quickly realized we could tell different kinds of stories in different ways.
We have been producing commercials for some time now, and often take our cameras to the scene of a news story or event for live coverage that we feed back to our website. We also produce a daily newscast that airs online and on the televisions at the mall.
"Your Health Matters" is our first half-hour production and focuses on healthy living. We hope to add other programming to our list in 2012.
We want to deliver the newspaper to your doorstep every day. And for many people, reading the printed version of the newspaper still is part of their daily routine.
But if you want to get your news and information in another way, we want to make sure we can deliver it the way you want to receive it, when you want to receive it.
So you can find news from The Herald-Mail online, on your phone and on TV.
Our goal is to make sure we're using every available platform to deliver news to you.
