NEW YEAR ASPIRATIONS
Editorial by Assistant Editor, Janis Stein

Not too long ago I was invited to a Christmas party, and seated at the table along with me and my Lakeshore Guardian counterpart was none other than State Representative John Espinoza and his wife, Mary. Now I'm not used to rubbing elbows with politicians at any level of government and so it was with more than a little unease that I fidgeted with my water goblet, wondering how in the world I was going to make conversation with a pair that, in my mind, surely operated on an entirely different level than my norm. I had made up my mind - it was going to be a long night.

I made the appropriate exchange of pleasantries at the onset, and again wondered what I - a self-proclaimed tom-boy, farm girl turned amateur writer might possibly have in common with an elected official. These people were clearly out of my league, and I squirmed in my chair, longingly thinking of my favorite arm chair, an unread library who-dun-it and my warm house so very much out of reach on this blustery night. What could I possibly talk about, indeed.

As it turned out, quite a bit. As the evening progressed, I found John and Mary Espinoza to be as charming to talk to as they were to watch, completely at ease with each other and all who stopped at the table throughout the course of the night. These were ordinary people after all, and my mind struggled to wrap itself around the concept. They had apparently started at the bottom and, through Mary, I learned of John's humble beginnings on the campaign trail, with her by his side - a politician who spent time in the farm fields? I had to learn more!

Eventually, the conversation turned to my love of the written word, John inquiring how I began. I told him of my first submission to The Minden City Herald years ago, and again we found a common ground. During the beginning of his campaign, a good friend and Bay City-Forestville Road resident told him he had better advertise in the Minden paper if he wanted to secure some votes. And so he did, John commenting the office looked and felt just like a small town newspaper office should - a look the Herald should be proud of.

State Representative Espinoza shared some experiences about his public life, things no one told him about or prepared him for in advance, and one comment he made about what he had learned will most likely stay with me for a good many years to come. It went something like this: Never discredit the person sitting next to you, for you do not know where they come from or what their experiences have been. Read that over one more time or better yet, I think it's a statement worthy of rewriting. Never discredit the person sitting next to you, for you do not know where they come from or what their experiences have been. How true that is.

As we close the door on 2005 and ring in 2006, we might want to consider where it is we're headed. Being human, we find it easier than it should be to judge our neighbor, our brother or even the lady behind us in the supermarket - even a State Representative - without knowing the details of where they have come from or what their experiences have been. So many people in our neighborhoods, in our cities, in our churches and even in our own families have started with their own humbling beginnings and against all odds, through their perseverance, their belief and their faith, they have accomplished great things.

I had considered myself to be a pretty good judge of character, but John and Mary Espinoza now have me rethinking the whole thing. You can't often - nor should you - judge a book by its cover. Rather, you need to get to the heart of it all, to the heart of the people you meet, to really learn all there is to know before jumping to conclusions or making those hasty assumptions we are all guilty of making. As we journey into 2006, may we all learn a lesson from the self-taught pages of State Representative John Espinoza. Happy New Year!