Being Nice

Skimming through the news, Facebook or blogs these days I encounter barbs, shaming, and attacks on others. It is a natural part of our social landscape. Sad, but true. The level of nasty has grown exponentially in recent years.

Beyond demoralizing, the trend of nasty sets an edge to most public communications designed for public consumption. Edgy, you know? Or maybe, you don’t. If so, you are one of the saved!

I have given this much thought over the past few weeks. I don’t like the temper of our times. I expect nastiness to be a part of national enemies, back alley bullies, schoolyard thugs and that sort of thing. To counter the nasty, I avoid where I will likely encounter such behavior. That is not always possible, but the avoidance technique is a workable tactic most of the time.

Creating my own bubble of peace is the strategy. Unfortunately, this does nothing to defeat the nasty. Instead, it grows ever more strident. What do we do about this? Is there anything we can do?

Another strategy I employ is focus on the positive. I can do this with clients who create new products and services needed in the marketplace. I help others perfect their business plans to build successful small businesses. I have two primary specialties I use in helping others. The first is strategic planning skills; the second, is focus on the nonprofit business sector.

The latter is always a mood booster for me. Nonprofits do the work society needs but most corporations cannot serve for a profit. As such, nonprofits are a positive force for good in our world. Helping victims of local disasters, crime waves, or other social ills, is work focused on helping individuals next door or down the block from us. Or maybe the work is for our larger community, county or state. Possibly the work spreads to other regions and eventually to the nation as a whole. Some nonprofits only work internationally, spreading potential, positivity and life-saving actions to those less fortunate than our own nation.

Nonprofits are filled with people who care for others. They work for the benefit of others. In the process they make our surroundings better, more successful, and touchingly human. This is the work governments hope for but cannot do by themselves. This is the work corporations will support but focus instead on building better widgets to earn profits and build wealth.

Nonprofits build commonwealth. Goodwill toward all mankind. Peace. Serenity. Niceness.

With this background I remain positive. Positive, that is, until I read or watch the news. Then my mood turns sour. Nice retreats into shadows.

Increasingly I avoid news programming. Much too negative. Much too fearful and ominous.

During the day I get local, regional, national and international news from the Internet. I read sources that give me details and possible causes and solutions to the problems under discussion. Turning on the news programs, all I get is news of disasters, crime and negative happenings. I literally know more about their news items than they are sharing, mainly because I have a fuller understanding of the news item by exposing myself to more information.

If we are to grow and improve as a society, we need to understand the news, not be alarmed by it. We need to see what is possible, not just the bad. We need to build muscles of nice rather than tendons of nasty.

A problem is nothing to fear. It is an opportunity to solve. It would be nice if news programmers worked this side of their message more often. Until then, I’ll avoid their newscasts.

January 13, 2022

 

 

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