By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher, San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper, Chairman of The Board of Directors, NNPA
Each year’s end, the San Diego Voice & Viewpoint publishes, with photos where possible, a list of those members of our community who transitioned during the year. For all of us, it serves as a reminder that our time on this earth is limited; that we should value how we use that time and that we know not when our time expires. For many of us, it answers the questions as to why we have not seen someone lately that we often run into in the course of our activities. But this is not a time to be saddened or depressed.
As one of those we lost used to say, “Each day is another day above ground and another opportunity to get it right.” So, let us not look at these pages with a sense of morbidity, but with appreciation of lives well lived and our own personal opportunities to do better.
As we plan ahead with that long list of things we want to do, let us not forget to include finding ways to help others as well as ourselves. We must not focus on what is being done to us as much as we must focus on what we can do with others to counter those attacks. Each of us has a voice and each of us has a vote. There are times to use both if we pay attention to those things being said and done against our interest and the interest of those who share our positions and concerns in this society. We are still blessed that efforts to limit our speech, place fear in our hearts and reduce many of us to the erasure of our culture and achievements have not succeeded.
We must plan ahead our collective interest, regardless of the color of those who would join us. We must move politically and socially from permanent friends and permanent enemies to permanent interest. We must go beyond complaints about budget cuts and find ways to redirect the four trillion dollars a year we spend on everyone else’s sales to us, with no return appreciation for those dollars. We must support those who support and respect us. We must change our habits and learn the discipline of deferred gratification as opposed to buying what we want at the moment instead of focusing on what we need, both individually and collectively.
In planning ahead we must alter our attention span. Listen beyond our personal interest to understand how we might help others, and, sometimes in doing so, we unintentionally honor those who have gone before us.
We thank those of you who have supported us in 2025 both as readers, advertisers and most of all our printer. You represent the lifeblood of our existence and the source of our survival this year. May God bless you and your many efforts.