It can be so overwhelming. Watching the news, listening to the radio, reading the paper, live news updates on my homepage updating me with the hour's tops news. A Wall Street fat cat screwing over the little guy for more money. Another man elected into public office caught in a sex scandal, or drug ring, or embezzlement scheme. Genocide in Darfur. Hate crimes reported to be on the rise. It has been said time and time again that the news can be overly depressing. Sometimes it just makes wonder how some people can appear to be so stupid, so conniving, so cruel.
I try to not let what I've just learned from the media bother me. I acknowledge the story, analyze what went on, explore the legitimacy or truth in the event, and go on with my day.
This past week I decided that I needed to create a network that I could lean on for support and report back to while I'm off in DC. I want to learn as much as I can in my new location. While processing alone is necessary, discussion with others is a beautiful and valuable compliment. I emailed the few people that I had saved as contacts in my email and then created a facebook group to get in touch with everyone else. I really had no idea who to select or where to draw the line. "This person is really cool, but I haven't talked to them in years. Would they even care?" "I see so-and-so pretty regularly, but don't know them well enough to share something as life changing as this experience will likely to be. Should I include them?" "I remember this person from back in the day and they seem like the type of person who may be interested, but... I just don't know". It was about 2am when I selected everyone. Some were selected intentionally, some were not, and some were even overlooked. I was tired, a bit conflicted about who to include, overwhelmed by the couple hundred names I had to choose from, and just wanted to be done. I quickly selected a bunch of names, thought "We'll just see; it's whatev." and went to bed about 5 minutes later.
I find people fascinating. I really do. People are intriguing creatures and I love analyzing what causes people to behave as they do. What are they thinking? What are their experiences? Why do they act like this? I am one of those creepy people that love to people watch and have no shame in admitting so. I love wondering what motivates people in their behaviors and I love being surprised by their behaviors.
This past week I was surprised by many people. The feedback I received from email and facebook really baffled me. People that I hadn't talked to since my freshman year of high school, people that I might have spoken 12 words to total, and people that seemed to be more of a "friend of a friend" than anything else were interested in my upcoming journey and extremely, even eagerly supportive. Many went beyond support and encouragement and took it to another level. Since sending out my announcement I have received feedback from at least 5 different people with contacts for me in DC, places I should go, things I should do. "I used to work with ... in DC. If you need anything, he's a great, helpful source." "I want you to meet... She does cancer research just outside Washington and is eager to meet up with you."
It has me thinking about the nature of the human species. I have always been optimistic when discussing the character of man. Is root of man good or evil? I simply couldn't bring myself to believe the ladder simply because it was an unbearable thought. Toying with that idea that man is bad seemed like such a loss. But over the past several years I have allowed myself to go there. To think and really analyze our species' motives.
People, in general, care about their fellow man. People want to help others. The fact that most people are bothered the "depressing" stories in the news can provide at least a little proof for that. We don't like to see others in distress. Yes, there are many people in pain, who have basic needs not being met. And yes, sometimes it is caused by another man. But where ever there is human suffering, you will also find compassionate people ready to serve.
Sometimes you have to put in the effort and look for the good. But I prefer to spend my life searching for good, rather than feeling overpowered by the bad.
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