Somewhere...Over the Rainbow...

I just finished watching 5 nights of evening news in a row (thanks to a DVR) with The Boy for his Citizenship in the Nation merit badge homework. Talk about a downer.

This was a rotten week to watch the news. Each episode included terrible financial news. Each episode included reports on the presidential campaigns that have both taken negative turns as the election draws near. Each episode reiterated regular American's fears and anxieties of the future.

This homework was exactly the opposite to what Boy Scouts encourages and embraces. They teach to "Be Prepared" and to "Do a Good Turn Daily". I sure didn't hear any of that on the news.

Wouldn't it be great place to turn on the news and hear about how one neighbor was able to help another when they had trouble befall them? How nice would it be to read in the paper about the increased donations of time and resources to a local school by community businesses? What would it feel like to hear a reporter talk about how violence had been replaced with service? Or where families drew together to strengthen each other and those around them? Where jobs were created by cooperation letting mothers share a full time job and still care for their own children? Where health insurers were looking out for the patients who needed their help rather than looking out for only their bottom line?

I realize how outlandish that sounds. I know that it will not happen anytime soon. But after the week we've all just experienced, can't I try to imagine what that kind of world would be like? Is it wrong to wish for things to get better emotionally, morally and ethically, instead of just financially? Wishing doesn't make it so, but my wishing is another commitment to keep doing what I am doing--helping at school, serving in my callings at church, and watching out for my friends and neighbors. Maybe someday, that difference I make, that influence I have will make a bigger difference by helping to bring on the kind of world I have otherwise, only wished were real.