I happened to finally find some time to sit down and review what's been going on since my last blog post. It's definitely not been easy. The problem that I find in our own lives today is that we are searching for Life's Answers on the Internet, kind of like when my brother and I used to ask the "Magic 8 Ball" questions. If we didn't like the initial answer that the Magic 8 Ball had to tell us, we shook it and then looked again. Obviously, there's no fixed answer to life's questions.
We've been seeing more COVID cases in our rural community hospital; there has been some new civil unrest in Minneapolis, and generally it seems like people are more unhappy, unsettled, searching and trying to see if the "right" answers show up at our doorstep. We have seen some medical providers in our own small community suffer with the COVID infection, and we don't know exactly how things are going to move forward. We have older friends and family who are locked away in nursing homes, wondering why they can't say hello to the outside world. It is, at best, heartbreaking.
The shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin has shaken us all to the core. It's almost as if it is "just another thing" going on to make sure that 2020 is the "suckiest" of all years. I can't imagine more difficult times.
But just as we used to ask the Magic 8 Ball different questions, and we looked for different answers, sometimes there is a light somewhere that reminds us of our own humanity and the resilience of the human spirit.
By a total fluke, I found such an answer that happened to be on YouTube regarding Kenosha, Wisconsin....in 2016. This is a wonderful story, and it actually is one that can give us a hopeful boost. Watch the video below.
My point, hopefully has been brought home. Not everything is going to hell. Just the stuff we happen to be seeing on television news, listening to on the radio, and reading in the newspaper. And just when I think it's becoming a bit unbearable, I remember my rule: Don't look for bad things. Search out some good, positive things instead.
And, just like that, I learned of three middle school boys who were best friends and protectors of the young lady with Down's Syndrome. It was all in the way I looked at Kenosha, Wisconsin. In spite of the bad things happening out there, we have to remember that there still exists a basic human kindness that is the basis for our resilience. It is what truly keeps us going.
So please: remember to look for something good today. The Good News Network has some excellent stories of normal, everyday people performing extraordinary feats. Try to avoid another day of political mind-bombs, and go try to find something that we can say is really representative of who we are, and of who we want to be.
Once you start seeing good things out there, you might start doing good things as well. The world will be better, and you will have created what I would like to call: "A Different Kenosha."
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