* Another silly nonsensical story brought to you by Staff Writer 3.

What is news?

It depends on who you ask.

Being in the news business writers often lose touch with what readers want.

You see in school we are taught that news can be nasty. It has shock value. A murder, wreck, natural disaster. It can make us cringe.

But, news can also be inspirational. It can offer hope and solutions to society's problems. It can point to the aftermath of disaster and people helping people. It can make us feel good.

We are also taught that news is new.

But is it?

What is new anyway? Or maybe I should put it like this. If new(s) is the opposite of old. Then what is old?

According to some... old is over the hill, old is yesterday's business, old is past the point of return. It is outdated and out of style.

Kind of like history.

History is an idea of the past. So maybe history is old news?

If you ask me, history is a cycle of repetition and those with a vision move on leaving it behind.

But, sometimes we just can't get past history. We continue waging wars. We continue believing what we have always been told. We continue with the same friends. We continue with the same fears.

So as news writers, we continue writing the same stories over and over. The story line continues with different names and different places.

In fact, most all of us continue doing the same thing over and over and over until we die. And we continue believing that this repetitious cycle is life, living and being alive.

Sounds like history to me.

Or maybe, it's living history, now that's nonsensical.

* This is a pun coming from my old computer hard drive which was named Staff Writer 3. (If the truth be known we don't have three full-time staff writers at the Greene County Daily World.) But, I will let you in on my new computer hard drive's name, it's Reporter 1. But, I prefer to be called Staff Writer 3. (Another fine example of living in the past.)