Good News!!

I have a routine every morning. It's almost ritual by now. I have no idea why, but it just seems to be a good start to the day, and tends to keep things flowing throughout the rest of the day. One of the first things I do, after I've woken up, is to go sit at my computer and read through the news. As habitual as this is, it's also becoming quite the down-trodden moment of my morning. I have actually found myself reading through the headlines, looking to see if there is just ONE article that is good news. I find very few. A side note: The bits of good news I find are indeed well worth the read, however, sadly, they are far and few between.

Some of the latest headlines I've read include: "US Reacts To Iran Hiker Jailing", "Jordan Warns: Escalation in Gaza Threatens Entire Region", "Support Swells For Indian Hunger Striker", "8 Charged In $40m-dollar Fortune-Telling Scam" and "Deal Frees 'West Mephis Three' in Arkansas" (which, ironically enough, was found in the Entertainment section of the news).


Wouldn't it be nice if just once, the newspapers were filled with nothing but good news, happy news or news that was anything but grim, disgusting, horrifying and depressing? Just once. I'll bet you anything that the news company that printed one paper with nothing but good news in it, would be kept as long as possible by millions of people around the globe. Perhaps, it would be one of the most sought-after newspapers in history!

Think about it. When you go to read the news, you see nothing but good news. No violent crime reports. No war news. No famine news. Just nothing but good news. The frightening thing to this, however, is that news reporters would likely be seriously hard-pressed to bring themselves to write multiple articles about good news.

Let's see if we can imagine some realistic headlines for a paper that contains nothing but good news. Keep in mind the many sections most of the major papers have. Front page news often contains 'major headlines', while other, less known or less important news is filtered through out the paper in smaller articles. There is often a sports section, business section, entertainment section, world news, local news, national news, sometimes a page on health issues and news, and of course the adverts that are splashed throughout the paper from cover to cover.

Let's see, for the front page news, perhaps a world headline along the lines of "Switzerland Leading The World: No War or Discord in Decades!". Then, of course, you would see all the other nations that have not been involved in any wars (civil or otherwise) in long periods of time.

Then we might see something in the sports section about various athletic teams and athletes enjoying good games they've played, or successes in their careers...maybe even make mention of the hundreds of humanitarian and philanthropic areas these people work with when they're not playing their perspective games, or are on down time from their sporting events they have to attend now and then. That would be nice, yes?

Health news would be easy to write. Headlines might contain things like "Woman Living Cancer-Free After 10 Year Battle", or perhaps, "Local Clinic Reports Healthiest Month in Years", and maybe...just maybe...ok, hopefully..."New Holistic Treatment Found To Help Stop Cancer From Spreading...Brings Relief To Millions of Cancer Patients Around The Globe". Wouldn't that be nice?

National News might include some headlines such as, "Federal Government Gets Their Act Together, New Programs Now Available For Everyone" (we all know that will never happen, but we can dream, right?). An even better headline would be "All US Troops Serving Abroad To Be Brought Home By End of Year". Considering we have 260 US Military bases around the globe, that would be A LOT of soldiers being brought back home...a very good thing indeed.

See, there are so many things that people can write about, and never do. We rarely read about the millions of dollars people in the entertainment industry give to charities and other such organizations. We hardly ever see nice stories about people who adopt animals from the Humane Societies around the country, especially when those animals are special needs animals, or exotic ones. No one ever writes about people who have benefited from holistic an alternative medicine uses. Once in a great while we might stumble upon some 'natural healing' articles. However, those articles are often short, and have very little merit to them (unless you belong to a web site forum or news outlet specifically designed for that purpose).

I write for a local newspaper called the Mountain Messenger. It's California's oldest weekly newspaper, and is usually all of 6 pages in length. However, many of the people that subscribe to this paper, do so because of the humorous and good content. Others, who are used to the more strategic lay out of a news paper, claim that the Messenger isn't even good enough to wrap fish in. I disagree. It's perfectly fine to wrap fish in...and many fish at that, thank you very much.

For example, the front page of this week's newspaper, shows photos of two lovely women who have worked with the court house for decades, and they have retired. The article is very keen to point out how missed they will be, how well they performed their duties at work, how long they have worked there, the accomplishments they have had during their tenures and so forth. They have lovely photographs of the women, both smiling and laughing. It's a wonderful news story. Of course there is more serious news within the paper, but none the less, the bulk of this particular paper is an enjoyment to read. Even the letters to the editor are generally nice, thanking people for their help and/or hard work and efforts, making statements about what a wonderful visit they had to the local area....sometimes there are a few letters that are a bit depressing, or would be considered 'bad', but rarely.

Even the crime reports are humorous. They are not written that way to make people laugh at crime, nor take crime of any level lightly. Simply put, it's easier to write a Sheriff's Blotter with a line or two of semi-humorous text (example: That darn dog next door won't stop barking...again), instead of writing lines that contain a more serious tone (example from another paper: "Man arrested for arson..will get jail time and fines - and then it goes on to list the details, including the man's name, city he lives in, age and marital status).

Now, in the comments section, let's try a little test, shall we? I'd like my dear readers to come up with a GOOD headline for a news article, and then tell me what section of the news paper it would be found in. Example: "Man Saves Neighbor's Dog From House Fire!" (Local news). And please, have a very nice and newsworthy day! Hey, if you can't make headlines for the paper itself... make headlines for yourself!