Sometimes, here at The Beachcomber, a theme emerges as we put together our weekly newspaper.

This week, that theme is hard to miss: the power of one person to make a difference.

We can feel that power in reading about the quest of Mary Sage to inform others about a disease that has upended and threatened her life, but also given her a new purpose — to comfort and advise others who are afflicted, and give them hope.

We can also sense the same power in the story about one of the most creative and courageous business owners on Vashon, Eileen Wolcott, who has now embarked on yet another attempt to save a place that has brought joy to generations of islanders — our historic movie theater.

Anyone else would have given up years ago, but not Wolcott. What fuels her passion to continue?

We believe she is tapped in to the power of community, and that is why she’s made it her mission to keep the doors open in a place where islanders have long gathered to experience an art form that has helped them see the world and feed their minds. She’s not about to let that kind of magic go down without a fight.

Both Sage and Wolcott, in their different ways, are outward-focused people, and perhaps that is what gives them their strength to keep moving forward.

Commentaries on these pages, too, re-introduce readers to other, similarly community-minded local heroes, including Hilary Emmer, a person who has perhaps done more than anyone else on Vashon to keep islanders in their homes throughout the pandemic, despite rising rents and all the punishing economic repercussions of the pandemic.

Emmer knows that a diverse community is a healthy one, so she does what she can to help those who need an economic hand up to stay here, knowing it is not a favor but rather a way to make Vashon better.

But wait, there are more admirable islanders on these pages.

Jinna Risdal and Wren Hudgins, two mental health experts, are here to give us advice about how to emotionally navigate the many conflicting feelings that accompany the lifting of pandemic restrictions. Their calm, compassionate voices are filled with common-sense wisdom we need right now.

In the arts section of our newspaper, there is an article detailing how Andy James, Vashon High School’s new theater teacher, has ably led a group of students through an experience that will surely always live on in their high school house of memories — the time they came together to put on a show, in this case, Shakespeare’s masterpiece, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

The kids will take the stage this weekend and next, and we urge all islanders to see the play and applaud all the human potential on display on the stage.

The most famous line in “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” of course, is uttered by a mischievous fairy, Puck, who, in telling his king about the humans who have entered his forest, says, “Oh, what fools these mortals be!”

Truer words were never spoken, of course, that’s not the whole story.

We mortals can also be magnificent. Just look around our island, and then look out to the wider world, and you will see that, time and time again.

Wherever there is bravery, camaraderie, resilience, compassion and hope, you will find people who are reaching out and showing others that even one person has the power to make a difference.