FROM THE EDITOR

recently took my children to an event created by a mom and employee of a local school district. I only found out about the monthly gathering hosted in my community by chance at a birthday party.After reading the agenda for the March invite, I opted to take my two elementary-school sons and check it out. I was impressed because the entire event taught us all, at di erent age levels, the importance of contributions and service to our local communities.

With this month’s focus on service we were all encouraged to bring supplies to build special kits for the homeless community. e kits consisted of warming gloves, toothpaste, toothbrushes, Kleenex, lip balm, socks and more. Our children worked to help build the bags to be donated to Aurora Warms the Night in the future. While the goal was to create about 50 bags, based on the amount of supplies donated, I’m sure the nonpro t organization received a lot more.

In talking to my sons after the gathering, they talked about how they learned that the simple gesture of opening a door for someone is considered good service in our community. My 6-year-old, while enamored by the laminating machine, did get some value from his breakout session. Along with an art project, he also learned the meaning of the Mother Teresa quote, “Give your hands to serve and your hearts to love.” is was one example of good happening quietly in our local communities. I truly saw the value in a day like this where it teaches our kids that the world is not just about how many material things we can take from it, but also how small, kind gestures can make it a better place. ere is always a place out there to lend a hand. Whether it be through a small gesture to help someone with a door or a handful of groceries or on a bigger scale of making sure 50 or more homeless people get some extra supplies or help — We can make a big di erence through small gestures every day. elma Grimes is the south metro editor for Colorado Community Media.

Parents were also required to participate in a breakout group where we interviewed each other and learned a bit more about virtues. As we listened to answers and got to know some of the community parents we did not know — we realized how good it felt to hear good things from others.

When we talked about what we gained from the exercise, one participating dad summed it up well — he said we often get caught up in judging others, having preconceived notions based on a look or attitude, when in reality hearing from someone else about our own good traits and values made him feel good.

In our own newspapers over recent weeks, I cannot say enough about the good deeds and treasured moments our reporters are capturing. I am like many newspaper readers, while I want to know the controversy and newsy stu , I also love to hear about and know about the good news.

From our local high schools in Douglas and Arapahoe counties raising funds to make children’s wishes come true to the Castle View High School project to raise funds to help save the rainforest — our young people are doing great things to help us today and in the future do better.

In Arapahoe County, we have a story of citizens and deputies at a courthouse coming together to save one woman’s life.

LINDA SHAPLEY Publisher lshapley@coloradocommunitymedia.com

VOICES

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MICHAEL DE YOANNA Editor-in-Chief michael@coloradocommunitymedia.com

THELMA GRIMES South Metro Editor tgrimes@coloradocommunitymedia.com

NINA JOSS Community Editor njoss@coloradocommunitymedia.com iscretion is the better part of valor,” “Caution is preferrable to rash bravery,” and “ e better part of valor is discretion, in the which better part I have saved my life.” - All attributed to William Shakespeare e father and son were skiing together and had decided to head into a tight tree run. e son being in his late teens, and still somewhat made out of rubber, encouraged his dad, who had just turned 51 into joining him on the run. As they picked their way across the top of the run looking for the best entry point, the son without warning dropped into a powder stash and was quickly on his way down the mountain.were reunited safely at the bottom.

I share that story as one recently shared with me because not too long ago I happened to be playing golf with a couple of customers. One of the guys in our group kept nding himself in trouble, meaning always hitting out of the woods or over water, playing a bit of rescue golf all day. I was standing next to him as he was trying to line up a shot around a tree. He kept walking around trying to decide to just punch the ball out or go for the risky shot that called for an intentional draw around the tree. He looked over at me and said, “God hates a coward,” and swung away.

WINNING SEE NORTON, P15 e dad stood there on his skis looking for his own entry point down. e longer he stood there, the more nervous he became, and the more nervous he became, the more his muscles tensed and froze. With no way back out, he remembered something he had heard in his life, “God hates a coward.” He wasn’t sure where he had heard it, but the timing was right as it was all the persuasion he needed as he pointed his tips over the ledge and took o down the mountain after his son.

Happy to report that although his ball did not nd the green, it ended up just a few yards short. It was a magni cent shot.

Happy to report that both father and son

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We have all been faced with moments of decision on when we should choose discretion over rash bravery, and hopefully we have all decided in those most critical decision points of life that indeed discretion was the better part of valor. Making a bad decision could end up in serious injury. Making a bad decision in golf will just usually end up with several lost balls and a very bad score. But decisions when it comes to family, health, nances, careers and other key areas of life require us to use judgment and discernment before rushing into something that could cause us much greater harm than good.

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