Good News

I would like to share one of my favorite quotes, this is by Marvin J. Ashton. 

“Be the one who nurtures and builds. Be the one who has an understanding and a forgiving heart, one who looks for the best in people. Leave people better than you found them.” 

I love that last part. Unfortunately, this isn’t the pattern of behavior we are currently seeing reported in the world, especially in mainstream media. 

In the beginning of the pandemic, when the news was filled with so much tragedy and sadness, one program my family looked forward to watching on Sunday evenings was the weekly episode of Some Good News with the actor John Krasinski. The show was on YouTube and did not appear professionally produced. I believe it was just him recording and posting it himself.  It usually lasted around twenty minutes with several short segments of goodness. John portrays a reporter highlighting uplifting stories of people around the globe who were performing acts of kindness and doing something positive. 

One segment shows a teenage girl coming home from her last chemo treatment.  This was during that time of social distancing and she had the surprise of driving down her street which was lined with vehicles decorated with balloons and signs, with her friends and family welcoming her home. Another segment captures a sanitation worker standing outside a retirement home, singing happy birthday to a woman turning 94 who, at the time, was not allowed visitors. And on one episode, John tells the audience his goal when creating the show was to report only good news.  He then tells them, the truth is, the people are the good news. 

Even though you can search for the show on YouTube, unfortunately Some Good News is no longer being recorded or aired weekly.  That doesn’t mean the good isn’t out there. It still is, we just might have to look a little bit harder to see it. 

I’m going to close with how the quote above ended: “leave people better than you found them.”

Be the good news.