Image Credit: Hamer-Jackson family

By James Peters

Two & Out

PETERS: The safe return of Lorne Hamer-Jackson gives us reason to keep hoping when all appears lost

Jun 21, 2019 | 4:16 AM

IF NEWS IS SUPPOSED TO BE stories that are unexpected or out of the ordinary, then the biggest news story of the week wasn’t the approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

That was hardly unexpected. The federal government had telegraphed it for months.

And the biggest news wasn’t the continuation of the forest crisis that is costing many hundreds of BC families their jobs. That has also been coming for a long time.

No, the biggest story was a Kamloops man walking up his front yard into the loving arms of his family.

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Much of the community had already given up hope on Lorne Hamer-Jackson by Tuesday evening.

After all, the signs looked bleak. He had left home without his ID or cell phone. He hadn’t left any clue as to where he had gone. And he had suffered the horrors of mental illness for years, a situation that can sometimes prove fatal.

But while many may have written him off, his family didn’t.

They continued searching, desperately trying to bring their lost father, brother and son home. And on Tuesday evening, their faith in the highly improbable was rewarded.

We need to hear stories like this every once in a while — just to know the highly improbable is possible.

Just to know that there is still reason to hope when all appears lost.

That’s what keeps all of us going in the midst of what can be a depressing news cycle: the possibility that what could never be expected can still happen.

And families with missing loved ones need to see stories like this, too.

They need to know that, even when there appears to be only the faintest hope to keep searching, it’s hope worth nurturing.

It may seem very saccharine to say, but this week in Kamloops, its truth is undeniable.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.