Our Viewpoint

This week we have several examples of making connections in the newspaper. On the front page, you read about siblings who found each other through AncestryDNA after 50 years. One in Plains and one in Australia. Finding each other wouldn't have been possible even 10 years ago. We can't imagine what those two individuals must have felt when they found out about each other. And without vital phone and Internet services, that connection wouldn't have been possible.

On page 6, we tell of a different kind of connection. The physical connection you get from human touch, be it a massage or a simple hug. With all the advances in technology in modern years, that physical interaction is even more important.

Then we have Jason Cox, the Methodist pastor who grew up in Missoula but had never been to Plains or Whitepine before coming to lead those congregations. Now he has a church family for life in Sanders County.

Sometimes we feel everything is too much. Maybe we're too connected and we need to unplug from rest rest of the world. But then we remember being connected isn't so bad.

We're thankful for being able to video chat with best friends across the country, foreign exchange students across the world, or our parents just down the road. We're happy that people such as Jo Ellen Morris and her brother Rodney Dillon can get to know each other without having to wait weeks for the next letter to arrive in the mail. And when Jason Cox finishes here in Sanders County and moves on to semenary school, we know he'll stay connected to the congregations he has built relationships with here.

Whether your nearest neighbor is upstairs or a mile down the road, be open to connections, embrace new technology and experiences. You never know where they will take you.