Cheering Challenge Accepted

Professor J,

sigh.

Your previous post is disturbing. Chilling even.

When the news is reading like a Tom Clancy novel it's a bit more than troubling. 

Now I'm supposed to swoop in with "daisies and popcicles" (a Mr. Snarky quote) and cheer us all up?

Challenge accepted.

I've started, at the top, with a picture of a Finnish sunrise I took a couple of years ago. So there.

This response will be brief and involve a bit of shorthand by just linking the stories instead of explaining all of them as the freezing rain is causing me to rush to beat a possible power outage. 

The good news is divided into two categories. Macro and micro. The macro being in increased tolerance for certain groups of people or times we see the law working. Or look at the very fact that you know when it isn't working! It's publicized. We could say that about all the things you listed. Due to technology and communication advances it's difficult to keep anything in the dark forever. Despite what we see from ISIS there is a great leap of tolerance and understanding between various faiths. Consider the amount of attention and effort going into improving the environment, there is much to do but many caring people are dedicated to the effort. We could say the same thing about animal protection. An army of kind people who care about our animal friends seek their health and happiness.

 Here is where I shamelessly promote beekeeping and recommend watching Morgan Spurlock's Inside Man tomorrow night on CNN.

The micro being the innumerable stories of people helping each other and the courage of individuals in the face of adversity. Those are countless.

 I think in terms of things getting better or worse, what we see is the good and bad growing together. Yes things are deteriorating in many ways yet improving vastly in others. So I found a few links to cheer us all up during this long dreary winter. Could that be contributing to your take on things? I am in desperate need of some sunlight!

Norway Muslims Form Human Shield Around Jewish Synagogue 

We live in a time when researchers study things like the way kindness affects us. 

34 Examples of heart warming kindness.

FCC Protects Open Internet, Adopts Net Neutrality

Crime Fallen by 70 % in Parts of Western World

I really had to strive to avoid adding cute animal photos. Consider yourself officially cheered. :)