“There ain’t any news in being good.  You might write the doings of all the convents of the world on the back of a postage stamp, and have room to spare.”

— Finley Peter Dunne

Late tonight, my neighbor and I helped a teenage couple get their car started after they got stuck on our street.

It won’t make the local news.

It won’t make the newspapers. It won’t make t.v. It won’t even make it very far on the internet.

And I’m glad it won’t. Because what makes the papers, the t.v. news, and spreads virally on the internet isn’t what is normal. Abnormal makes the news.

The next time you see some piece of awful news, and think the world is in rapid decline, remember one thing. Bad news is news because it’s the exception. Most of the world is filled with good things. Neighbors helping neighbors. People helping people.

“Neighbors help young couple get car started,” isn’t a headline because it’s not news.

And that’s good.

Today’s gift of time … My neighbor and I helped out a young couple by getting their car started.