Greatness does not occur by luck but through vision and hard work to achieve that vision.

Today, we publish our largest single edition of the year — Profile 2017 — and we hope the section encourages and inspires us all to reflect not only on who we as a community are, but on where we hope to be.

This year’s Profile theme is: Forging Ahead.

The two words explain our community’s momentum — methodically and steadily moving toward our future.

The details of that future, however, are not pre-determined by anyone except the Creator. How great that future is will be up to the investment each one of us is willing to make in our community.

Are we willing to set aside our personal differences, agendas and whims for the greater good?

Can we look at our problems and see not things that divide us for generations, but opportunities to come together as one?

Natchez was once the center of commerce in Mississippi. With hard work, vision and perseverance, the community could return to that greatness.

Doing so will require a determination to break free of the status quo and of habits of our past. To fulfill our collective potential, we must awake each morning and take the attitude of how can we work together to forge ahead together.

We hope you enjoy reading Profile. Our staff has worked on the section for months. We also hope you appreciate, patronize and thank the businesses who have sponsored the section.

But mostly, we hope the section makes you realize just how great our community is right now and sparks some ideas of how to make it even greater going forward.