When We See the Helpers--We Know There's Hope

"If You Look for the Helpers You Will  Know There is Hope" --Fred Rogers



Mr. Roger's mother had it right: "When I was a boy and would see scary hings in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”  

At times like these it is  essential to keep our eyes on all that  is Good & Beautiful & Possible in the World.  Mr. Rogers advises us how to talk to children who feel confused and unsafe after public tragedies such as the Boston Marathon explosions.  Yet it's not just children who feel confused and unsafe these days. Some tragedies are so great, some evil so dark, that the only sane response is stunned silence, an acknowledgement that, for the moment, the universe is out of balance,  evil has triumphed, and the 'bad guys' have won. 

Yet a key component of resilience is our ability, even in the midst of the unfathomable, to focus on what works, what's right, what makes it better. Case in point: Six Amazing Ways People Helped After Boston Marathon Tragedy

As we wrote after Newtown: "After we have cried and prayed and lamented and mourned, it is time to again focus on all that is good, and beautiful, and possible in this world.  Because it is there, all around us.  We only need look for it."  When we see the helpers, we know there's hope.


Click on the Happy News link above for more stories of helpers, hope & innovation.
Browse the World Gratitude Map  for more  reasons to be glad.



Comments

  1. Actor Patton Oswalt's amazing Facebook Post: Boston. F*cking horrible.

    I remember, when 9/11 went down, my reaction was, "Well, I've had it with humanity."

    But I was wrong. I don't know what's going to be revealed to be behind all of this mayhem. One human insect or a poisonous mass of broken sociopaths.

    But here's what I DO know. If it's one person or a HUNDRED people, that number is not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the population on this planet. You watch the videos of the carnage and there are people running TOWARDS the destruction to help out. (Thanks FAKE Gallery founder and owner Paul Kozlowski for pointing this out to me). This is a giant planet and we're lucky to live on it but there are prices and penalties incurred for the daily miracle of existence. One of them is, every once in awhile, the wiring of a tiny sliver of the species gets snarled and they're pointed towards darkness.

    But the vast majority stands against that darkness and, like white blood cells attacking a virus, they dilute and weaken and eventually wash away the evil doers and, more importantly, the damage they wreak. This is beyond religion or creed or nation. We would not be here if humanity were inherently evil. We'd have eaten ourselves alive long ago.

    So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, "The good outnumber you, and we always will."

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts