The numbers are finally tallied and today we know who won, who lost, who is headed to a runoff and who will be on the ballots in the Nov. 5 general election for the 15 county offices that are up for grabs in Adams County this year.

For the most part, I believe Adams County voters were fortunate to have a good crop of people willing to put themselves out there for the jobs.

I don’t care what the jobs pay, they probably aren’t enough to compensate a person not only to endure the election process but also to try and meet the diverse needs of the people in Adams County if they actually earn the job.

I have a lot of respect for people who are willing to endure the election process in order to do a public service job, whether it be the county supervisors positions, justice court positions, constable positions, circuit clerk position or the sheriff’s position.

Each of those jobs takes a great deal of training and knowledge to do.

Above all, however, the right candidates for those jobs must be politicians, able to go out and talk to people, hear their needs and represent those needs in the office if they win it.

Then, they have to do the job in a way that stands the light of scrutiny, not only from media, including newspapers, radios and television, but nowadays, from the watchful eyes of social media in which anyone with a smartphone is as powerful a publisher as any mainstream media organization.

In the age of social media any slight can be captured on camera or recorded or posted by anyone and instantly spread as gospel through multiple channels.

That is a huge spotlight trained on public servants and just waiting to jump on any misstep.

We feel it to some degree in the newspaper business, so I can only imagine what it must be like for a politician.

As with every political season, we — the voters — win some and we lose some.

We pin our hopes on candidates we believe would do the best job and best represent our interests and the collective community interests and do the job in a respectable manner.

Then when the votes are counted our preferred candidates do not always emerge victorious.

That should not be the end of the world. Let’s give the folks who won, even if we may not have preferred them, a chance to do their jobs and show us what they can do.

That’s the way the system works.

If we as voters sometimes take it hard when our favorites lose, I can only image what it must be like for the people who actually lose an election.

I’ve applied for jobs I did not get. I’ve applied for membership to organizations that did not accept me. I’ve asked someone on a date who did not go. That is all bad enough.

Rejection, in any form is hard to take.

But as the Bard said, “Better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.”

And, you know what? Each of my rejections led me on a path that eventually wound up being good for me.

So, lets get behind the folks who won and root for their successes because our fates are all tied to theirs now.

And to the folks who didn’t win this time, don’t give up. Your time will come and just because the vote didn’t go your way in this election doesn’t mean the voters won’t give you another chance next time around.

Now, on to the runoffs and the general elections. May the best candidates win!

Scott Hawkins is editor of The Natchez Democrat. Reach him at 601-445-3540 or scott.hawkins@natchezdemocrat.com.