It wasn’t expected to be such an impactful and emotionally moving happening as what occurred at this Monday’s Falls Church City Council meeting. But it turned out to be perhaps the most “like that” event in Falls Church Council history, at least for the 33 years that this newspaper has been covering it so closely.

The service of outgoing Mayor David Tarter and Councilmember Phil Duncan has been, when taking a step back from an overview perspective, without exaggeration, nothing less than extraordinary by any standard at any level of service anywhere, and everyone in the City owes them a great debt of gratitude. This community has been extremely blessed to be the beneficiary of their tireless and dedicated efforts. We refer readers to the text of the remarks presented by Mayor Tarter published elsewhere in this edition. It is a stunning, comprehensive summary of what has transpired in the last decade in Falls Church to the benefit of all her citizens and the world, in general.

With all the attention being paid everywhere online nowadays to the mysterious and magnificent universe of which we are all a part, being disclosed to us through the achievements of the great Webb telescope transmitting images going to the edges of the universe and back billions of light years, it is becoming evident to us that there is a great connectedness to everything, whether it is as expressed by quantum physics or the seemingly bizarre observations and theories of “entanglement” that Einstein called “spooky action at a distance.” According to the CalTech Science Exchange, “entanglement theory” refers to the observed fact that “when two particles, such as a pair of photons or electrons, become entangled, they remain connected even when separated by vast distances.” When it is observed among persons it is“an unexplainable connection that allows them access into each others’ thoughts and feelings even when separated by miles away from each other physically (or even mentally).” We may be carrying this matter way beyond where this editorial intended it to go, but when it comes to determining what one does to make even a seemingly tiny community better and whether that “matters” in the grand scheme of things, there may be something of an answer to be found in this. It is, after all, not mere speculation, but science.

To the doers of good government, like our local heroes, it matters not whether such connectedness occurs. They do what they do because it is right and good. They hone the skills over the course of their lives to grasp and communicate the steps that are open to them to advance the goals of making the world as they know it better not just for themselves, but for people, for living, caring sentient beings, in general. They are willing to face the obstructions, the sometimes powerful pushback, that taking on such matters creates, and to stand up to them with courage and a positive attitude.