The longer I watch daily newspapers struggle with the changing media landscape, the more I am filled with relief that I am viewing this from a seat on the sidelines.

To be sure, I continue to have my hand in newspapers. I am a freelance reporter for a weekly newspaper in Collin County, Texas. That’s as far as my direct newspaper involvement goes. I like it that way.

However, I am filled with a growing sense of gratitude — yes, gratitude — that I was spared the agony that’s occurring within the craft I pursued with great joy for more than three decades.

I have told you already on this blog about the pain of being told in August 2012 that I would no longer be doing what I had done for the Amarillo, Texas, newspaper for nearly 18 years. I have gotten over that pain and, to be truthful, over my anger at the individual who gave me the bad news. I now am filled with relief and the aforementioned gratitude that he spared me the heartache that has enveloped the newspaper since my departure.

The Globe-News changed ownership. The publisher who in effect gave me my walking papers “stepped down” shortly after the new owners purchased the paper. My thought when I heard he had left was, well, “karma’s a bitch, man.”

The paper’s owners have gutted it. The Globe-News has moved to a suite of offices in a downtown Amarillo bank building. I hear from my friends in the Panhandle that it doesn’t “cover” the community these days, that the paper is full of press releases.

I am on the sidelines these days. My retirement journey is going along swimmingly. I’ll keep writing for the weekly newspaper near my home for as long as they want me; I also will continue writing feature stories for the public radio station, too, for as long as they want me.

Life is good, man.

What’s happening in Amarillo is being felt in communities all across the land. I am delighted to be away from the madness and the misery.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com