Good News
I awoke this morning, sat at the kitchen table, and opened the local paper. Before browsing the headlines, I sipped my fresh coffee and looked out onto the vibrant colors of turning leaves in the backyard. How lucky I am to be able to be able to take in this view, I thought.
I pulled by glance away from the window and began to read the paper. Within minutes all of my gratitude fell away like a bare foot on a mossy rock. I thought of Einstein’s famous quote “The biggest decision one will make in life is to decide whether the world is hostile, or whether it is friendly.” I knew what viewpoint I had chosen. And it clashed with the media’s chosen view. The paper was one big tome of disastrous, tragic things happening everywhere. I couldn’t help but wonder – did I really need any of this information?
There was the couple who died on Thanksgiving Day while digging for clams, and a man who perished when his sailboat capsized. Their were stories about the man who shot his two kids on Thanksgiving Day, and the couple who mocked our President’s State Dinner by crashing the party. And who could miss the breaking news about Black Friday early shoppers, boasting $1,000 in shoe purchases?
I’ll admit I’m a tirelessly positive person. I’ve confessed to my addiction to inspirational literature and I do literally own a pair of rose colored glasses. But I’m not saying our world is not in dire need of repair. I would just like some balanced journalism.I want to read a story about the family who came together, sharing a big holiday dinner despite the parents’ divorce. Or the couple who decided to forego their own holiday dinner to serve those in homeless shelters. Or the family who welcomed their loved one home from Iraq.
It shouldn’t be that difficult – there is plenty of good news out there. Did you know that doctors report that our efforts to change the climate is improving our health? By subscribing to Good News Network you can receive this and other positive news in your email everyday. Happy News will tell you about every day heroes, like the airline pilot who founded an orphanage, and that thousands of new species have been discovered under the sea despite the dismal reports about the environment.
Thw Green Bay Press Gazette devotes the week between Christmas and New Year’s reporting stories of people who make a difference, and Channel 7 in Denver honors local heroes on the air. Recently CNN hosted a gala honoring every day heroes. Andrea Ivory received a grant for providing free cancer screening tests, and 21-year-old Efren Penaflorida, who founded a mobile pushcart program to distribute books to children in slums in his native Philippines was honored, too.
We all know that word travels fastest and and most persuasively in conversation. So while you take in the mainstream media’s version of the news, remember that’s just one side of the story.
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