Forgive us today for pausing a moment to celebrate the longevity of this newspaper.

But in our culture, it’s odd that things last almost 200 years. That’s two centuries of progress from dirt trails to high-speed Internet; from handwritten news items to stories posted on the Web site.

Oh, the stories this newspaper has had the privilege of telling. Oh, the stories it has yet to tell.

But more importantly, we pause today to rededicate ourselves to the mission of community.

We at The Selma Times-Journal believe we have a calling to tell the stories of the people in this community as completely and as accurately as humanly possible. We make mistakes. We fail in our mission at times. And for that, we ask forgiveness.

The Times-Journal realizes its role as an important organ in this vital body of community.

We at the newspaper understand, just like organs in the human body depend on one another, that we do not do the work of community development alone or for the praise and honor that might go with it. We want to be good teammates with other organizations in Selma.