No matter where one turns these days, it seems to be getting harder and harder to find positive, optimistic news – or even people for that matter. Who could blame those people or writers anyway? Every few weeks it feels as though we read a headline of the event of the day that is unprecedented, usually in a negative way, and after a few years of reading things like that people can become cynical, insulated, and just patently different from their former selves.

If the COVID-19 era has any silver linings, however – and there are a few – one of them would be that we have learned that we should take the time, regardless of fatigue, cost, or effort, to go out of our way to celebrate each other, important milestones, and the blessing of making it through one more day.

It feels almost surreal to be sharing with our readers the joy, relief, and sense of purpose that I am experiencing in celebrating with you the 25th anniversary of the founding of The National Herald.

I must say that these milestones are important, not simply to pat myself on the back, along with the staff, and all of you who made it possible to reach this milestone, but because we deserve to celebrate it as one tight-knit community. The story of The National Herald begins with my father, Antonis Diamataris, who had the vision, stomach for risk, and understanding that mass migration from anywhere on Earth to the United States was a relic of the mid-20th century, and that, statistically speaking, with each generation after the initial immigration of a family to a country, the chances of the children speaking the language of the ‘home country’ decline dramatically. Therefore, he was seeing a problem that would not affect things immediately in the 1990s but something that would only become more problematic as the 21st century progressed. Like any business, we needed to go where our readers were going, and they made it clear they needed a trustworthy, English-language newspaper that they could be proud of, and we, 25 years later, hope to have achieved the goal of making you proud. As a son, someone who was just a bit too young to remember the idea circulating at the dinner table about The National Herald and the endeavor our family and our newspaper was about to undertake, I can only simply say it’s an honor to work alongside my aunt, my father, and my sister, Vanessa – with the support of our mother, Litsa – to roll up our sleeves and attempt to give you, the Greek-American community, the English-language newspaper that you so richly deserve. Hellenism can be summarized in a word: resilience, a resilience in the face of long odds, so that the flame of Hellenism has never been extinguished. Neither has our passion to deliver to you the best possible product, to report on the highs and lows of life, to celebrate each other’s accomplishments within our pages.

Our newspaper has faced challenges since its inception – economic collapses, inflation, wars, COVID-19, and everything in-between, has unquestionably impacted us, but the mission is clear. Our staff believes in the value of this newspaper and work so hard to make it of the quality it is, and our readers and advertisers clearly see the value in this newspaper too, since we are blessed to be celebrating 25 years since its founding because of their support.

No, the Greek-American community is not the most numerous minority in America, but it is undyingly resilient and we are honored to chronicle that resilient spirit for the last 25 years.

On to the next 25 years then, thank you to our subscribers, supporters, and advertisers for believing in us, for being there in the good and the bad times – we appreciate you all more than you can know. And thank you also to our colleagues, who make going to work feel as though it is not work at all. The National Herald is, and will continue to be, your newspaper, for our Community.