Overcome the news, look close to home
If you watch a lot of news reports, especially since many stories air over and over again at noon, 5:00, 5:30, 6:00 and 11:00, you may soon come to believe that the world is in terrible trouble. Violence, crime and tragedies permeate everywhere you look. How many of you have asked, “What is the world coming to?”
I have heard that one of the first things some therapists do to treat depression is encourage the patient to stop watching the news. Amazingly, it often helps.
People often carry the weight of what they see and hear in the news with them. They worry about the family who lost their home to a fire, the child who disappeared from his home, the children of a mother killed by a drunk driver, the elderly woman who was the victim of a robbery, and the victims of plagues or violence of war.
Have you ever heard someone say, “People just don’t care about others anymore.” I think some do not, but the majority of people does care. I think people earnestly care, but often do not know what to do about it or do not think they have the time.
In my past career as a journalist, I had an opportunity to read through a volume of news, good and bad. There were a number of tragedies in the pages, sadness because of loss of family and friends, crimes throughout our county and the like.
Also within those pages were stories of people who do care. People who went the extra mile to make a difference. People who were honored with awards for their service. Public servants who try their best to serve the people to the best of their abilities.
Where I have found the greatest nature of caring is not in the big headlines and the artistic photos but within the community calendar each week. There are organizations needing volunteers to help relieve many of the horrors that are reported on the evening news.
I would like to encourage you to take the time to read these. You can make a difference right in your hometown. It might be something as little as buying a suitcase to donate through to a new foster child so he/she will have a place to keep their belongings rather than in a paper sack. It might be giving time a Literacy program to help someone read, or just to watch folks children while they learn. It might be giving blood to help an accident victim. It might be cleaning out your closet to donate items that can be used by someone else, which provides help to area families in need. These are just a few of dozens of groups and organizations that are included in community calendars. By sharing a few hours a week, or just an hour every now and then, you could really make a dent in making our world a better place.
Life is only made better by the efforts of the hands and feet of those that care. Our world is filled with worries, concerns, problems that we cannot solve. Within our abilities maybe we can make a dent in a need near our home. We generally cannot even aide in the issues that fly across our screens as thanks to connectiveness we are visually able to see misery at the four corners of the earth. But at our own back door, through our own windows the needs are great and we can strive to one by one make those needs evaporate.
I hope all of you can find something within your local news that makes you feel good about the community you call home. I hope the good news within these pages always outweighs the bad.
