Apr 30, 2014 By Chad Green columnist 3 min read

A letter to our loyal Yellow Jacket readers:

You may not recognize my name within the editorials of this paper. I do not expect you to. The last time I wrote a story for the Yellow Jacket was in 2011. You may not expect me to be writing a column, yet I have had a hand on every edition. I am the distribution manager

I deliver the newspapers.

Each Thursday morning, I drive out of Waynesburg to Uniontown to pick up the newspapers from the printer. It is one of the highlights of my week. I have a lonely hour and a half round-trip, but I use that time to reflect.

As a senior communication student, I have much to reflect upon. During the trip, I pass farm land after farm land and recall the summer after my sophomore year when I worked on a farm. This was the summer that I discovered that I am not called to run a large-scale farming operation.

I pass the old Hatfield’s Ferry Power Station that closed during my tenure as a student. This station ran on the burning of coal. I empathize with both sides affected by the closing of this station. I imagine the ways that our country is moving slowly toward cleaner energy sources such a natural gas. Perhaps we will even see a more efficient form of solar energy soon. I hope the closing of this station is just a small step in bringing our society to use of renewable energy sources.

Across the road from a landfill along my route is the Lakeside Party Center where I attended the Spring Formal sponsored by the Student Activities Board three years in a row. This was one of my favorite events to attend during the school year. There are not many chances as a student to get dressed up for things other than speeches and presentations. Sadly, this spring, that formal was canceled, but it does not detract from the fond memories I have of that event and the time I spent with friends and fellow students.

As you read this, realize that there are many people who bring you this publication. The staff writers, the students in journalism classes, the editors, the designers, the photographers, the advertisement manager and the distribution manager. It is this team of people that put their time and efforts into this paper and give me a reason to make that drive every Thursday morning–my hour and a half of reflection.

Thank you, Yellow Jacket staff, and thank you, readers. There is a beauty to the exchange of information over a medium such as paper. It is an element of a civilization. It makes us human. We read to be informed and to feel a sense of empathy for those behind the stories. I feel like part of something greater than myself when placing these papers on their stands throughout the community and on campus.

Since you are reading this now, you know that I have completed my task for the year. I will be graduating soon, and I will be moving on to new ways of contributing to civilization. I ask you to do the same. Use your own gifts and discipline to contribute to society. Whether it be on the farms sustaining our civilization, in research of clean and renewable energy sources, in politics supporting camaraderie within a society and between societies, or in journalism telling the stories of this civilization, do so legally, ethically, morally and with a sense of what is greater than yourself.