The front page of our paper Friday screamed out bad news — unemployment in Newton County has reached 10.4 percent. This puts our county at No. 1 in unemployment in the extended metro area. The state of Georgia is currently reporting an average unemployment rate of 7.8 percent.

 These are not the type of stories we like to run in The Covington News, but unfortunately we can’t bury our heads in the sand and pretend that all is well.

 We can read news like this and not be defeated by it. That takes having a positive attitude.

 We can recognize that one of out of 10 of our neighbors — and maybe ourselves — are willing and ready to work, but cannot find a job anywhere. It’s not because people are lazy or don’t want to; jobs just don’t exist.

 We can show compassion for these folks. We can buy extra groceries to give to our local food banks, or put a few extra dollars in the church plate if our church has a program to help families in need. We can shop locally so that any money spent will support our local merchants whose taxes will help our local governments keep our county on the straight and narrow.

 We can go through our closets and take the clothes that we have been waiting to lose that extra ten pounds in order to wear again to a local donation point like the Salvation Army or Goodwill.

 We can show compassion for those of our neighbors whose tempers are short and whose fears are many.

 We can get down on our knees and ask God, to keep his hand on families that feel they are at the end of their rope. We can ask him to direct us in the right way in order to assist our neighbors in need.

 We can thank God for the blessings he has bestowed on those of us that still have our homes and can still clothe and feed our families.

 We will come out of these depressing times someday; each one of us can see that our neighbors too will be there with us to enjoy the new fruits of our prosperity.