A thank-you bouquet from Mississippi: Biloxi Sun Herald Editorial Board
For all of you who gave so graciously!

We will never know all their names. We may not ever have a complete list of
all the companies and churches and organizations and communities that have
poured relief into South Mississippi.

But each individual, each business and company and corporation, each
charitable and religious organization and every single individual and
community that is sharing its time and treasure with us has our unending
thanks and appreciation.

South Mississippi is a proud region, not just of the Magnolia State but of
the nation. Our residents have long been known for getting the job done
themselves.

But not this job.

Hurricane Katrina stripped us of much of our own resources and overwhelmed
the resources it did not leave in ruins.

So to everyone who has come forward … more hugs than we could ever
deliver.

And it is not just those wonderful men and women we see out on the street
and at the distribution centers and shelters. It is also those men and women
behind the scenes who make it possible for those frontline personnel to be
on the frontline.

It is not just the linemen from a distant power company who are helping us,
it is also those communities and families they left behind who are willing
to forgo their services and companionship while they are here with us.

Within our own communities, for every person at a press conference, there
are countless others who make such activities possible. People who keep the
people in the limelight fed and provide them with as clean an area as
possible to do their work.

There are so many to thank. So many who deserve so much appreciation.

We must not let our visitors leave without knowing how much they have done
for us.

And we must not let those South Mississippians among us who are doing so
much for their neighbors go any long-er without knowing how much their
efforts are appreciated.

Not only are our emergency agency personnel our heroes, so are the men and
women willing and able to get some of our businesses up and running. Yes,
the lines are long and tiresome. But at least there is usually something at
the end of that line and someone willing to put up with our eagerness to get
it.

We once heard of an experiment where people were sent out to randomly select
strangers and thank them. They didn’t say for what. They just said thanks.
Most of the time, the strangers accepted the thanks without question,
believing that there was indeed something that someone ought to thank them
for.

Well, we wish we could walk up to every person on their feet in South
Mississippi and say thank you. Because we know — and they certainly know –
that they are doing quite a bit to be thanked for.

This editorial appeared Tuesday in the Sun Herald. Knight Ridder owns the
Sun Herald and the Star-Telegram. www.sunherald.com