“Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
- Fred Rogers
Twice in the past week, beloved people of strength and character in my life have confided to me that they feel overwhelmed by what seems like nothing but bad news. Whether on TV, in the newspaper or on social media, it seems like an endless scroll of crime, political dysfunction, societal backsliding and other assorted miseries.
“Isn’t there anything good happening in the world?” one of my loved ones said to me. “Is there any reason for hope?”
Now, I appreciate news of all kinds, and I certainly have spent many hours over many years compiling news stories that no one would call happy. It’s important to know what’s going on in the world, and neither of my loved ones this week were attempting to escape reality. But they did need reminders that there is some balance, that there is light in the world in addition to the darkness.
Part of the problem is that, ironically, there is so much goodness, generosity and kindness in the world that most of the time it’s not newsworthy. The stories of criminality and evil are, thankfully, so rare that they are, by definition, “news.” There is an old journalistic saying that it’s not newsworthy when an airplane lands safely, but it’s definitely news if it doesn’t.
Still, in our globally connected world, we’ve created a situation where some noteworthy example of bad behavior or tragedy is happening constantly somewhere, and our current news ecosystem highlights all of that.
So I’m setting about on a project to highlight the good news that’s all around us, too.
On Thursday, I sent out the first edition of what I’m calling the Wholesome Good Uplift Newsletter. Most of the stories were actually from The Chronicle, which I think does a better job than most newspapers in finding and publicizing stories of kindness and goodwill.
My friend and fellow Chronicle columnist Julie McDonald does a tremendous job of this in her weekly column. Most recently she wrote about an Onalaska woman who has given away 50 boxes of books to kids as well as hundreds of her handmade crocheted hats.
And there’s the story of Kim Satcher, a hard-working Toledo school secretary who is battling cancer but has still led preschool and daycare in her church. She was just given a $5,000 heating system from Chehalis Sheet Metal.
“I truly believe they were the answers to many prayers,” Satcher said. It certainly made me feel better to know that one of the good people out there got a lucky break when she needed it.
I also highlighted The Chronicle’s story of Connie Todd, a local woman who goes into nursing homes on the evening of Christmas to give gifts and companionship to residents who may be feeling down because they didn’t get any visitors on that holiday.
I also brought forward a few national stories. One was about a mailman in Massachusetts who saw a toddler who had escaped from a daycare and was heading toward a busy road. The man scooped him up and possibly saved his life. We all would like to think we’d be heads-up and helpful if the occasion arose. It’s inspiring and heartening to see a regular guy like us living out the simple heroism we all aspire to.
And that’s really why I want to embark on this good news project. Not because any of us want to hide from the realities of an imperfect world. But we all need to be energized to do good in a world that needs it. If we’re weighed down by news of misery and despair, that can discourage us and snuff out our lights.
We need to be fortified and strengthened by realization of the truth that there is so much goodness and so many people of goodwill out there.
Our own personal acts of kindness are parts of something greater — individual droplets in a mighty tide of kindness, purpose and common cause.
That’s very good news indeed.
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If you’d like to sign up for the Wholesome Good Uplift Newsletter, you can do so here: www.bit.ly/Good-Newsletter-Signup
I’ve also created a Facebook group where I’ll be sharing these good news tidbits as I find them: www.facebook.com/groups/WholesomeGoodUplift
I think people are hungry for this kind of encouragement. Within 16 hours of creating these links, nearly 100 people had signed up.
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As 2024 begins, this is a great time to ask yourself what good news you would like to see in your house, your neighborhood, your community or your world.
I encourage you to begin the new year with the end in mind. What news story would you want written 12 months from now? How can you contribute to it? If you make 1% progress each day, you’ll get there well before summer. You can afford to make unsteady progress — as long as you start and keep going.
You don’t have to change the world right now. You just have to show some kindness, to rise with purpose, and begin writing the good news story you want to see in our world.
As you start, I’d love to hear about it. Drop me a line. Articulating your vision is the first step to making it happen.
Let’s make some good news together.
Brian Mittge can be reached at brianmittge@hotmail.com.
