Good news is good news

It is said that 'no news is good news.' That phrase has seldom worked for me. Like the popular ad for a gossip magazine, 'I want to know.' My entire working life was involved in some kind of information and news gathering or another. Not knowing or how to know, produced more desperation and heartache than, in many cases, the news itself. The phrase was supposed to have originated with King James I of England, who, in 1616, allegedly said, "No news is better than evil news" Defining the news that one doesn't want to know, is a little more acceptable.

My long suffering wife listens patiently as I blow, pound and complain about how much bad news there is in the paper. Home invasions, murders, street gun fights, political patronage and corruption, crumbling bridges, et al, all are icing on the cake of a struggling economy. But wait: today I opened the paper, and whether I was more alert to, or whether there actually was a super nova of good news, I cannot tell, but page after page contained at least one good, meaning upbeat, progressive, helpful, just or just plain, well, good, news item.

On page one I read that more money was to appear in paychecks and that a former boss of the New England mafia had been arrested. (What took them so long?) And that Mitt Romney was keeping the Tea Party movement members away, or at least at arm's length. Inside, the two Koreas are jawing not warring; Congressman Gifford is making wonderful progress. It said that she felt the sunshine on her face for the first time since she was shot. That news alone provided me with a bright solar burst all on its own.

Two editorials were more positive instead of critical or anti something or other. One said that recent signs of life in the auto world have shown that the bailout for GM and Chrysler has basically paid off, and Richard Lugar calls for a renewal of the assault weapons ban. In the letters column, a few brave souls criticized the "we dug it, we own it" attitude towards saving street parking spaces in Boston.

And so it went: the State suspends release of parolees; Blue Cross said its new system of paying doctors a fixed amount per patient is working; and, wow, blue jeans and spaghetti straps are out for House sessions on Beacon Hill. UConn wants to end Spring Weekend drunk and dunk parties, and a woman who was kidnapped 23 years ago has at last found her real mother.

So there it was, pages of good news. Sure, there was the usual negative fare. Welfare worker slain by one of her charges, dozens killed in assaults on Iraqi pilgrims, Miami police officers killed in shootout, and Massachusetts employers cut 2000 jobs in Dec.

Now don't get me wrong. I am not advocating that the press, TV and Internet show only sunshine and candy in their news. It's just that for every piece of bad news, it needs to be countered by some good news. It's not a matter of importance. Even a man saving a dog from a frozen river is a small counter to genocide in the Ivory Coast. One likes to feel that good is still operative in what seems to be an increasingly troubled world of corruption, injustice and natural disasters.

Perhaps this particular paper has always included a fair amount of good news, but I just haven't noticed it. Perhaps one has to have a particular faith in humankind that good is endemic to most peoples, nationalities or individuals, and look for it. Perhaps the events of bad news bring out the good in others. Seeking and finding goodness in the world about us, enhances our own sense of what is right and wrong, not only with the world, but with ourselves.

Buckminster Fuller said, "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." I have resolved not to be overwhelmed, achingly depressed or painfully disappointed in the failures and deficiencies of my fellow man. As I read the good news to my (still) long suffering wife, my "goodness" radar picked up her smile and felt the hand upon my shoulder as she stood behind the chair I was sitting in as I read. My new motto might be "No news is missed news."