A View of the Valley

by Linda Schwanke There is an old saying that goes “Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.” I’ve always liked it. It makes sense to me. Humans, any creature really, has to be prepared for the worst at any given moment to be able to survive. Adrenalin starts pumping and gets us ready for calamities known and unknown. For example, if you find a bat in your house (and aren’t a fan of bats as most of us aren’t) you are facing a “worst” thing that you are, at least on some level, mentally prepared to  deal with. Get rid of the bat is the first thought that pops in your head. We always kept a tennis racket in the house long after I’d stopped playing just in case. Knock it down, get into the laundry basket, get it out of the house. Preparedness in action. Hope is a singularly human trait – at least I assume it is. Hope is precious. Without it, life can be pretty bleak. That, I think, is where many of us are at today. Preparing for the worst is almost instinctual. Hoping for the best these days is almost impossible. There are so many bad things happening all at once over and over and reports of so very many things conflict with one another. How do you hope for the best when you don’t even know how to prepare for the worst if the worst is impossible to figure out? It might be a lot simpler if we were all completely selfish all the time. I think it’s probably easier to find hope if you never give a thought to anyone or anything else. Because you don’t have to take anything but your own needs into account, you can be hopeful because you don’t care about anything but yourself. You prepare for the worst by killing the bat because so what if they’re a critical part of the ecosystem? Your life is more important so screw it.  But not really. Humans are social, whether we admit it or not. So we work together to be prepared, to figure things out, to find hope. One of life’s difficult lessons is learning that you don’t like everyone. You never will. And not everyone will like you. And never will. And that’s ok. But it’s not a reason to be selfish. To be rude. To be awful to anyone at any time. We are as different as we are the same. Our idea of what the worst we need to prepare for is, is as different as there are grains of sand in riverbanks, stars in the sky. That’s all find and dandy and even though right now it seems to be tearing everything we know and hold dear apart, there is hope that we can heal, hope that we can accept our differences and move forward together. Hope that we can be better than we are. I think the path to hope is grace. The Oxford Languages online dictionary defines grace as courteous goodwill. Merriam-webster.com writes the definition of grace is a charming or attractive trait or characteristic. While these are both, it is true, secondary definitions, they are the ones I look to when defining grace. Grace to cope when the chips are down. Grace to cope when the dog is barking, the kids are screaming, the washer is overflowing and you’re trying your best to be professional when you’re in the middle of a video meeting. Grace. I think we all need more grace in our lives. It will help us find that path we need to find to hope. The Home News has early deadlines coming up again. This time for Labor Day, which is late this year on September 6. All deadlines move up one business day making the deadline for news Friday, September 3, at 12 noon for the Wednesday, September 8 issue.  Stay in touch. My number is 574-3159. Email me at homenewseditor@newspubinc.com or write to me at the Home News, P.O. Box 39, Spring Green WI 53588.  Visit our website at homenewsrv.com Get in touch with Gwen for sports or features at homenewssports@newspubinc.com. If you need a display ad, Dave Pronold can be reached at homenewssales@newspubinc.com or by calling him on his cell at 588-4777. Display ads, or ads that are in boxes, are due by 1 p.m. on Wednesdays. The classified ad deadline is noon Thursdays the week prior to publication for both the Buyer’s Guide and Home News. Classified rates are $13 for the first 10 words, then 30¢ per word for each additional word. Call (608) 767-3655 or email classifieds@newspubinc.com  Legal notices are due by 2 p.m. on Fridays, email them to legals@newspubinc.com Call the NewsPub central office at (608) 767-3655 for subscriptions and all other information Monday through Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon, although afternoon hours can vary. Closed Fridays.