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The Martha's Vineyard Times is a weekly publication.
December 23 - December 29, 2004 Edition
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EDITORIAL Christmas December 23, 2004 Life’s little drizzle and the December southwester erased the dreamy holiday meringue we wished for. A Christmas blizzard seems unlikely. And that’s characteristic of this season, through which we struggle dazed and harried to get to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The good and the bad, the wishes fulfilled and those dashed, the happy and the tragic, all are amplified by Christmas, all touch us somewhere, and the stunning mix of emotions carries us to the heart of Christmas. Death has claimed some of the best of us, some of the cheeriest and most inspirational. Illness has flattened some of the good ones we depend on, and sparked us to consider the head tides which sweep away some, and the good fortune we enjoy. This is the poignant moment of the year. Leaving aside the glitter and the shopping and overworn imagery, Christmas still makes its ancient magic felt by de-scaling us and exposing our lives to life itself. Although this season especially brings existence to the boil, newspapers by nature are carried along daily in the full flood of human events: births, deaths, tragedies, triumphs, fire, flood, politics, arguments, crabbiness, euphoria. We are exposed to it all. It’s the job, and thanks to you, a terrific job to have. So this is the moment, with Christmas Eve just hours away, to remember our good fortune, and to wish all of you — readers, customers, newsmakers, neighbors, friends, critics — the merriest of Christmases. Give a gift Elsewhere in this morning’s newspaper, Island Elderly Housing explains what it has been up to recently and asks for your help to do more. For years, this page has had a special regard for IEH, for its mission, and for its persistence and accomplishments. This is a homegrown organization, a hardworking nonprofit that has an unassailable, decades-long record of enormous achievement on behalf of our low-income elderly and disabled neighbors. IEH deserves your wholehearted and generous support. No one escapes life without trials and worries and fear, but the clients of Island Elderly Housing don’t have to worry about a place to live that they can afford for a lifetime in the community where they’ve spent their lives or where their children or grandchildren now live. And, they can live on their own rather than in custodial settings, which many older Islanders resist no matter how sympathetic such places may be. Now, IEH has begun a program offering assisted-living services to its 150 tenants. It was the tenants’ idea. Contributions from Islanders made the effort possible. Now, half of the IEH residents have taken advantage of the meals program, many have used the van whose transportation is neatly matched to the residents’ needs. Others have benefited from the home health care services. Island Elderly Housing has steadily expanded its devotion to the interests of the elderly and the disabled. This is an organization that does not become distracted from its central mission. It gets things done, then does more. Now, on the even of Christmas, this is the moment for you to do more.

©The Martha's Vineyard Times 2004 - www.mvtimes.com