Last month there was a great story about pay it forward chains at starbucks drive-throughs. It was great to see it. I love hearing about stories where people are doing good things. It can make my day. We live in a world where bad news is what sells. Scandals, wars, crime and politics are the bread and butter of our media outlets.
For me I made the realization that the newspapers and news programs on TV reported more disturbing news than not. That and what celebrities were doing. It was depressing. I decided to stop reading the newspaper and watching the news on TV it was the best thing I ever did. You might ask why would you go through life ignorant of what is going on in the world? I figured if there was anything important that I really needed to know everyone would be talking about it and I would hear about it outside of media resources. My husband is a bit of an insomniac and was addicted to the 24 hour fox news network. We now have basic cable and roku boxes so neither of us are watching the daily news now.
Here is the thing. I have been doing this for about 6 years now and I am not ignorant of the world around me. I will hear news snippets on the radio, see stories on the internet and hear others talking. If something draws enough interest I do further research or ask others about it. Because I am not looking at the usual media diet of news I get a lot more of the positive news as I read the small stories instead of the breaking news. Not watching the news regularly or reading the newspaper has made my life better.
Today MSN reported another gracious act out of Texas. A man named John went through a chick-fil-a drive through and handed the cashier 10 $100 bills and stated that I would like people to have a great Monday so I will pay for all the cars meals behind me for as long as the money lasts. It is reported that it lasted for 88 cars. Did this person do it for media attention, no he only gave his first name. This was reported because it was an amazing random act of kindness. This wasn't for some well known and touted charity, it was just because he wanted to make some average people's day.
These positive stories make me believe that there is hope for our future and that our nation has not become so self-centered that these stories are crushed before they ever reach the masses. Maybe if enough of these stories are published then more people will do random acts of kindness just because.
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