Opinion : Eleven-forty five and all is well

At 11:45 each day, the Vinton Today computer magically sends out hundreds of messages, telling many of our readers what is happening in our town that day.

Today, however, there is very little news to share.

That’s bad, in terms of the numbers we like to see – we measure our readership in what is called page views, or the total number of stories read in a day.

When there is no news, those numbers go down. I have noticed that when there is lots of news – especially bad news – those numbers go way up.

I once said, “I wish our numbers would go up without us having to write about a tragic death.” A few days later, they did – but because of stories about child sex abuse.

But today, there is no bad news – and very little news of any kind.

There are no tragic deaths to report. In fact, there have been no deaths to report yet this month, and it is already Dec. 10. We have not had any obituaries posted by our local funeral homes since Nov. 29. The fire trucks, ambulances and law enforcement vehicles are, at this moment, not racing toward any emergency.

That means tonight, when I look at our numbers, I will be a bit disappointed.

And that’s OK.

I once wrote that TV stations should be honest with us at 6 or 10 p.m. and say, “Hey there really isn’t anything going on today. Turn off the set and get up and do something more important.”

So today, I tell you: It’s 11:45 and all is well. Get off the computer and go outside and enjoy the relatively warm weather. It won’t last long.

And if things turn not-so-well, we will let you know.