We met an old buddy for a coffee earlier this week. He’s been around awhile and little surprises him, certainly in the field of the human condition.
As an avid reader of all Newspapers, he lamented there is little in the way of good News anymore.
Between council fumbles here and there, or the waste witnessed at higher levels of government, there’s really little to cheer about. Certainly there are few leaders the public can trust completely, which makes it hard for citizens to have faith in institutions.
It makes for a sad commentary on the purpose many of us look for in life; that drive to make things better.
His comment came on the heels of us learning that missing man Tim Bosma, who had gone along while people test rode his pickup, was found dead.
Most Ontarians gasped in horror that such a fate befell a young man with a young family. Whether it was simply the theft of a truck, or something more sinister, senseless acts like these outrage the public – and deservedly so.
This kind of tragedy creates a sense of bewilderment about our times. Is the world really going crazy? Good people cannot make sense of it.
We happen to believe evil has plagued mankind for centuries. That we hear about more of these things today probably makes wickedness seem more commonplace than it really is.
If people look for the good in others, they’ll see there is plenty of goodwill left in this world, even though there’s lots of sad too.
Looking through a prism of distrust is not healthy. Going home and locking the door hardly builds a community, or develops young people to think positive about their prospects in the future.
In fact, poring over a few pages of this week’s paper we see lots of signs that people are hoping for better and doing their part to make it happen.
The Fergus Lions put on another tremendous home show in Fergus.
A group in Arthur unveiled a new mural in town to honour the surveying of Jones Baseline and to beautify the downtown. The same day the Arthur Lions held its annual duck race, offering fun for all ages.
A Harriston woman was honoured for years of service with the Canadian Diabetes Association.
Arts groups committed to entertaining their community held numerous shows and events.
Several not-for-profit groups and a local hospital are hosting annual fundraisers, while horticulturalists enjoyed raising funds through numerous plant sales.
To us, getting active and helping out is the only way we’ll starve out the bad.
