It's All A Matter Of Perspective

I have been meaning to write a post for the past couple of weeks, but there is this thing called a job that keeps getting in the way. So many events have happened recently, and I want to add my dime's worth.

Each New Year's Eve, several of my friends gather to celebrate the new year. It is a family affair, and we have folks ranging in age from 7 months to 68. Everybody comes to have a good time, play board games (not that Twister game posted on basil's blog last Wednesday), and eat. At midnight, we all go out and shoot off the illegal fireworks someone bought in South Carolina and transported across state lines. I must say that we have the best show in the county.

This year, we all commented how 2005 had to be a better year. In 2003, my son Andy died, and in 2004, two of my best friends, Hal and John, died. Things definitely had to be on the upswing, right? Nope. Has anyone watched the news lately?

The southeast has taken a beating this year. Teri Schiavo was allowed to starve to death because her husband did not want her any more. Two little girls in Florida are killed by sex offenders. Two little kids in Georgia walk out of their house and drown in a pond. This bride gets cold feet and causes unnecessary pain for her family, her fiance, and her community. I know there are more things going on out there than just these things, but come on! What in the world is going on? Is there anyone out there with any common sense left?

Then, I stop and I look at things from a different perspective. I spent the weekend in Calhoun watching the middle daughter of a close friend play Annie in "Annie Get Your Gun." She is only a junior in high school, has the talent and looks to make it where ever she wants to go, and she wants to become a physical therapist because she wants to be able to help others. Did that make it on the news? Nope!

I took 28 seventh graders to Washington DC and New York the first week of April. We walked all over both places, bought fake Oakleys in Battery Park and ate freeze dried ice cream from the Smithsonian. Then, when we try to get home, our plane, completely loaded with 157 people has to sit on the runway for three hours because the Atlanta airport is closed. One businessman started talking on his cell phone to an associate, and made the comment, "Wouldn't you know it's just my luck. I am stuck in a plane with a school group, but you know what, they are really good kids. You'd never know they were on here." Did that make the news? Nope!

There is always going to be bad news, evil, hatred, meanness, and grief everytime you turn on the TV. That is what sells. But, stop every so often and think about all the good things that do not make it on the news. It's there too...you just have to hunt a little harder.