The Good News Is It Ain’t All Bad News

By Robert P. Poindexter

Wow!!! I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am worn smack-out!!!  What a year this has been so far, and with just a few days of it left, I must admit I am really looking forward to 2012.

Two thousand eleven featured everything from droughts to wars with plenty of earthquakes and major storms thrown in for good measure. And the sad-eyed news commentators were right there to bring us the latest catastrophes in blow-by-blow, breathless exhilaration.

Collectively, we were inundated with an endless deluge of human suffering and tragic loss, (mixed with the occasional Hollywood break-up story that for some reason the media have convinced themselves we really care anything about when we’re just trying to pay our mortgage on time, jeez).

Before the hate mail starts rolling in, let me just say that I do see the importance of being kept abreast of things going on in the world that have an impact on our fellow earthlings; I simply question whether it is necessary to hear 27 different versions of the event from over 100 different news sources. Some might say “absolutely yes,” and that’s okay.

But this message is really for those of you who aren’t too concerned about whom Sean Penn got into an argument with at an airport, or how Kim Kardashian suffered through 12 long days of marriage before finally summoning the courage to walk away from what must have been a hellish nightmare that not even the strongest among us could have tolerated for even a millisecond, much less 288 hours. Oh Kim, certainly Sainthood is reserved for those of your intrepid character. (Sarcasm intended.)

Of course, we can all agree, there is more than enough bad news to go around. And no matter what year happens to be ending, we can usually find plenty of bad things in the previous 12 months that we are anxious to forget.

As you look forward to the beginning of a new year, try not to be too hard on the one you’re leaving behind. Because no matter how bad it may have been personally for you or collectively for humanity, it gave each of us an opportunity to learn something new about ourselves and the world we inhabit.

I don’t have the gift of being able to see into the future, but one thing I’m pretty sure of, is that next year will provide those same opportunities to learn and grow.

The question is, will we do a better job of taking advantage of those growth and learning moments?

Those who do will most certainly have a better opinion of the year than those who don’t.

My hope for each and every person on this rock we call home, is that there will be more good news than bad, everyone will be able to summon the strength to survive and the willingness to learn from the adversity that will most certainly be a part of each of our lives.

Happy New Year – it just may be the best one yet!!!