It's been a tough week in Edna

By Chris Lundstrom

Publisher/Editor

    It has been a tough week all around. This is the time of the year when people just seem to get nicer and more thoughtful. I guess with all the holiday preparations going on, we just seem to care about each other more. That is a good thing.
    That caring was never more apparent than this past week. A house fire is itself a tragedy. After all, the family usually loses most, if not all, of their possessions. It’s like your life has been wiped out, or burned away. Well, Johnny Hernandez Jr. and Annabel Ortiz lost more than just their possessions. They lost five of their children in the fire. Five children! Just saying it makes my heart hurt. This young couple will now have to start their lives over.
    But they are not alone. Their youngest son, Johnny III, survived and will give them someone to hold onto when the hurting seems insurmountable. They have family – lots of it. Edna and Jackson County are a close-knit community and in this instance it seems almost everyone in the county is related to this couple. So their circle of love is bigger than most, and that is a good thing.
    I have heard it said many times that Jackson County is an awesome community that supports its people. Well, it is, and we do. It seems tragedies bring out the best in people and this has been no exception. Within hours fundraisers were being organized, accounts set up at local banks, and donations started rolling in.
    The kids in the Edna community have all been touched by this since the children were all students at their schools. Our wonderful Edna Cowboy football team played with true heart Saturday, honoring their teammate by winning in his honor.
    The opposing team, Ingram Moore, actually took a collection from their community and presented at check to Johnny and Annabel. On a night where two teams were competing for a play-off win, it seemed there was more camaraderie than usual and once again we were united in our compassion and sorrow. A glance at Facebook showed more posts from other communities in the area that are rivals on the football field, but now compassionate friends.
    When such terrible things happen it is hard to find good in it, yet we know if we look hard enough we can find it. Well folks, there was plenty of good in Edna this past week. From the firefighters to the EMS, from the clergy to the classmates, from the family to the strangers, love, support, and sympathy poured out for this family and it makes me so proud to be a part of this community. Also situations like this give us the opportunity to show Christian love for each other.
    This tragedy made us hold our children and loved ones tightly, realizing our time here is short and we are never promised tomorrow.
    The story went national and, I am told, world news. Little ol’ Edna, Texas was the focus of mainstream media and I believe we represented ourselves well. However, it did make me realize how callous the press can be, each trying to “one-up” the other by getting some new, previously unreported information. In the middle of all the hurt and tears reporters were shoving microphones in faces and asking questions that shouldn’t be asked.
    Since when do we need to know everything about a situation? Why the need to report gory details that are better left unsaid and private. Does the media really have the right to know it all?
    I’ve been in this business for 13 years and it never fails to amaze me how some situations just make us forget our manners.  I will admit, I have been sucked into the reporting frenzy a few times and have not been proud of myself afterward. Luckily with this being a weekly paper we have time to consider what we report in the newspaper. We do try to keep people informed in our online edition, but there is something to be said for sensitive reporting when it is called for.
    So, don’t turn to the Jackson County Herald-Tribune if you want to find details on tragedies that are National Enquirer-worthy. If you put yourself in the victim’s shoes, you find sometimes the less said, the better.
    In any event, the donations will keep pouring in – as they should. In our darkest hour we can find the light of love when we reach out and hold out a helping hand to those who need it. And this young, devastated family, needs all of our hands now.