Although kindness comes in many forms, I wonder about human beings. Are we naturally selfish? Are we naturally positive or negative? How much of our behavior is innate as opposed to learned?
As a person who enjoys staying informed by watching the news, I realize most news stories typically focus on something negative. After all, when the station does a short positive story near the end of the telecast, it seems out-of-place.
On the other hand, I’m a firm believer that the majority of the world is good – which means I’m confident that the majority of people in people in international hotbeds are good. Yes, I believe the majority of people in Iran, China, Venezuela, Syria, Afghanistan, Russia, and all countries are good. After all, smiles and kindness are accepted with gratitude even with barriers in place as language, culture, and government..
Maybe all this is a reason that those simple positive news stories get my attention – and sometimes bringing a tear to my eye as the story touch my heart and reinforced my belief in kindness across the role. It’s been a long time since I focused a post on goodness, so it’s about time I get my act together! 🙂
I saw this not long ago on the Today show, so I’m glad the story is still available. NBC’s Hoda Kotb dressed up as a metermaid – an officer with a duty of issuing parking violations. Click here to watch the video, and enjoy!
I really enjoyed the video, Frank. Thank you so much for sharing! I, too, believe that most people are kind and that our similarities, as humans, are much more numerous than our differences.
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Cathy,
When I first saw the report, the range of reactions grabbed me. Cheers to all the kind people in the world!
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We are a confounding species. Capable of such good, and such bad. Both within us individually, and globally. I have no answers.
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Cindy,
Yes, we are confounding. Even such a wide range of behaviors in this video – but that is one of the factors that makes us human.
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Yes. Like you, I believe most people are good. It only takes a few horrid ones to ruin many people’s view but I refuse to!
Thanks for that wonderful video! Now… why am I NOT ever the recipient of such a “prank”? 😉
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Dale,
Cheers to the good lady in Quebec. …. and I agree … you should receive such a prank!
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Thanks so much for your post and sharing the video, Frank. It was so touching. When I was having chemo a few years ago, a man at a Church I was visiting sent us a cheque for $500.00 I was so touched!
Hope you have a wonderful Christmas and New Year , Frank and I send you a sack full of blessings !
xx Rowena
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Rowena,
That is touching, so thanks for sharing the goodness in the world. Your story reminded me of a wonderful story I saw on CBS not long ago. Thanks for reminding me of it … and here it is for you to enjoy. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/two-million-dollars-later-how-secret-santa-came-to-be/ … Wishing you many Christmas blessings … and hope you return here on Christmas Eve.
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Very sweet. Thanks for sharing.
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AND–Merry Christmas to you and Ms. Angle!
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Merril,
Thank you … and Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to you and your family! I’ll have a Christmas Eve post with musical treats!
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🙂
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Your video completed my Christmas shopping! I copied the link and plan to show it on my NFL crazed brother-in-law’s gargantuan TV as part of my family’s annual Christmas gift exchange!!!
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Tim,
Maybe he will surprise you with tickets to the USGA’s US Open!
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Merry Christmas, Frank!
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Robin,
Thank you … and Merry Christmas to you as well … plus I know you find solitude with the approaching Winter Solstice! … hope you return on Christmas Eve.
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Heartwarming, Frank. Thank you
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John,
Heartwarming, but with a smile. Gotta love the wide range of reactions!
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Yes. I loved that guy who got so upset and then kept apologizing. In life I would rather avoid a situation where I had to apologize. Sure give me the ticket *grumble under breath* I once had a cop give me a ticket and then thank me for being so polite. Go figure.
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Just an example of our complexity.
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🙂
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Cool and merry!
(Perhaps some negative human behavior is residual from survival of the fittest instincts? Will people ever feel confident enough that life is Ok that we can get past that? Hope and onward.)
Jingles for kindness – now there’s a Christmas wish.
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Mouse,
The negative behaviors can be expected … then again, the one guy felt like a heel … so the good came out!
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Always an interesting question. I believe it was the great 20th century philosopher, Frankie Avalon, who asked “Devil or angel?”
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Bumba,
In this case, I think Hoda was the angel appearing as the devil.
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It was a lot of fun watching that video, Frank. Happy Holidays, and all the best to you! ⭐ 😀 ⭐
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Resa,
I knew this one would make you smile. Best of holiday wishes to you, too … hope you return Christmas Eve.
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An uplifting video, for sure! It’s nice to get a *positive* surprise, isn’t it? I like your uplifting post and wish you a wonderful holidays xx
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Christy,
There is a lot of good in the world, and too few stories about them. Like I heard a person say yesterday – we report on the one plane crash, but not all the successful takeoffs and landings. Holiday blessings to you … and hope you return Christmas Eve.
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I believe people are good too. I just think we know more about what is going wrong nationally and globally with the amount of information available to us and the speed at which it travels. It is making us more anxious. Would we be calmer people if we still watched Walter Cronkite or David Brinkley and followed up by reading the newspaper and magazines?
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Karen (I believe),
Welcome first-time commenter. I agree with your analysis about how the news makes us not only anxious, but also that the speed of the news/information does come with risks. After all, I know I’m old enough to remember the national/world news was for 30 minutes in the evenings – and that’s it. Also, given the amount of information we receive today, we need sensible filters. … unfortunately, many purposely use strongly-biased filters to feed their preferred narrative.
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Too true. I don’t watch the news anymore. I just read from varied sources to get different takes. That’s as fast as I can digest things now and still maintain my mental health.
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Wonderful video. It has been a strange year indeed. I read something over the weekend about “collective trauma” and how a lot of Americans are currently, collectively wondering what in the world is going on…with their worlds. An awful lot of uncertainty and fear out there…certainly across the globe as well. I don’t claim to know what percentage of folks have good in their hearts but I pray it always remains a healthy majority. There is good news and good works out there to be found. We just can’t look to the media to promote much of it.
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Bruce,
The world has always had uncertainty … and in the age of instant news, hyperpartisanism, and crazy events – yes – a lot of uncertainty. Yet, I still believe the majority of the world is good. Nonetheless, glad you enjoyed this video!
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