A Little Good News… For a Change

Haven’t you had enough of bad news? I have… I think. But here’s
the problem: no matter where you look or how hard you might try to
avoid it, bad news follows you around like a bad penny. TV news,
newspapers, magazines, Internet sites… all seem to make their living
– and acquire the most viewers – using bad news. I think there is
something hardwired into our genetic code that causes us to gravitate
toward bad news; it’s almost impossible to look away. I don’t know
why, but almost all of us slow down when we see a car accident, and
not necessarily to help; often it’s just to gape. (I’d like to think
that this part of our nature is tied to our inherent “fight or flight”
instincts. Perhaps we’re just looking at these things to make mental
notes of what to avoid: Keep your hand out of the blender; check.
Don’t launch bottle rockets using your buttocks as the bottle;
check. But honestly, I may be giving the human race a little too much credit.)

It’s similar with news stories: the ones we talk about,
forward to other people, and read the most are generally bad.

It’s so bad, in fact, that I think we often react with disbelief
when we hear of a good story. “You mean a fifth-grader found a deposit
envelope with $5,000 in cash and he returned it? No way, that’s got to
be an urban legend.” But on the opposite end of the spectrum, we have
no trouble at all believing that a couple was feeding their adopted
children garbage and wallboard paste. I’d like to change this, and you
can help.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post on here on my blog
that specifically asked people to share good news. I was tired of all
the bad news, I said, and was just looking for something – anything!
– good. Of the several hundred people that read that post, 8
commented. Of those comments, most were simply commiserating that
they, too, were interested in good news but had nowhere to turn. Only
one person (thanks Mysti!) provided an answer.

What she shared with me is the antidote for the daily news. The
Good News Network is a clearing house of all
of the good news that gets buried everywhere else. Some are newspaper
stories, some are written in-house, many storylines are provided by
readers looking to spread the word about good news in their area. The
site, though not beautiful, is efficient. News is divided into
categories like National, Business, Life, Opinion, Earth, and (my
favorite) Samaria.

In Samaria, you can read stories related to the best news you can
imagine: people behaving well. No murderers, swindlers, cheats,
thieves, or just plain rotten n’er do wells. Just honest to God, real
life people doing blissfully good things.

There’s even a quaint little page offering links to other websites
across the net featuring good news. Lest you think the human race is
not in trouble, this page has a total of eight links. So help me
spread the good word. Tell your friends about The Good News Network
and help us all start our days on a more positive note.