We embrace the change before us

I am certain I have conducted thousands of interviews in my 15 years at the Daily American Republic. The rough math on that is upward of 4,000 print editions and special projects. Maybe more.

Amongst all of the conversations rattling around in my increasingly crowded brain, some have stuck. More than stuck, really. They resonate.

They stand out, I think, because of the emotion or the stark truth in what I was told.

At the top is a World War II veteran from Piedmont who was still moved to tears when talking about his wife’s death 30 years later.

Another was a Poplar Bluff mother, who found out her toddler had a disorder that would present challenges for the rest of his life. She told me she had to let go of what she imagined his future would be and embrace who he was.

It’s no secret that we’ve made major changes in the last few years here at the DAR.

Change is not something we humans are conditioned to welcome, at least not those of us over the age of 30 anyway.

There’s a reason there are so many cliches about being creatures of habit. Habit is comforting and reliable. Change is unknown and scary.

Change is the road in which no step has trodden. It is the road that diverges into a less-traveled territory.

We at the Daily American Republic are celebrating our 154th year, but we are also embracing what we are today that is unknown. We love and value our dedicated print audience, but we have spent the past three years in untrod territory, for us, looking at a digital future.

It is not a change that has been, or could be, embraced by those who wanted to follow that well-traveled road where the footsteps of those who came before left a clear path.

But it is absolutely a change we must welcome. Because the future of our communities, the health of our governments, depends on the watchdog recognized 230 years ago by our founding fathers and enshrined in our Bill of Rights as part of the First Amendment — freedom of the press.

We have a role to play in the future, and we must be willing to adapt to the needs of that future.

It’s not something that has been or will be easy. But building something from scratch, even at 154 years old, never is.

I’m proud to work with so many people who have embraced this change and who value what we have to contribute to our community. We look forward to those who will step up to this new challenge with us, and look back with respect and gratitude to everyone who helped us get this far.

Like that Poplar Bluff mother, we’re turning our eyes from what we were to embrace what we are.

And I hope we also have a little of that World War II veteran’s spirit mixed in. He treasured every moment with the family he had after his wife’s passing and found joy in the little things — like fishing with his grandson or surprising his neighbors with garden “scarecrow,” a blowup doll dressed in a bikini — despite the memories of war that haunted him well into his 70s.

Life is about embracing all of what we could be, can be and hope to be.

Donna Farley is the editor of the Daily American Republic. She can be reached at dfarley.dar@gmail.com.