Editorial: We wish our readers the best this holiday season

As 2018 fades into memory, we want to thank our readers who closely follow our three newspapers and websites. We are grateful for your loyalty — and for your comments, whether you think we have missed the mark with a story or editorial or, for that matter, have done something right.

We encourage you to continue writing letters to the editor and offering guest columns on issues you care deeply about. Comments on our web stories are also welcome. Keep them coming!

Some readers have said it seemed to them that letters we’ve printed always favored one side of an issue or the other. And, indeed, it can look that way, if one side is more energized to write than the other.

But we can’t say it strongly enough: We appreciate it when our readers write in with their opinions. We want to reflect the many facets of the communities we cover.

There is an expression whose provenance is much disputed that goes: “May you live in interesting times.” It is supposed to be a translation of a Chinese expression, but a little research on the internet shows that’s probably not true.

Regardless, the sentiment surely applies to the times we are living in and the year we’ve just gone through. By all indications, 2019 will be even more interesting, for a host of reasons now playing out. While we will do our very best to cover stories about our communities, we will also comment on occasion about the state and national scene.

But our primary goal is to report and write about Southold, Riverhead and Shelter Island. We care very deeply about the past, present and future of these three towns and, as things change around us, we want to help chronicle their onward march.

Our newspapers, right or wrong, are the first draft of history. We aspire to get that history right.

So to all our readers, have a festive holiday season and a happy New Year!