“People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.” – Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
Read that again.
“People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.”
It’s true. If you walk around expecting the world to be ugly, it will indeed be ugly. If you drive down the road looking for a white car, you will only see white cars.
I believe this with all my heart.
Yet, for the last seven days, I have been looking for good news stories and I’m struggling to find any at all.
Every December, my friend Nichola and I challenge each other to post a positive news story on Facebook every day. We both scour news sites searching for positive news, something uplifting, something remotely happy that might brighten someone else’s day.
Do you have any idea how hard this is?
War, politics, death, sickness, crime, car accidents, poverty – these are the things that dominate the media landscape right now. Of course, this isn’t anything new but it is worse this year than it was last year and significantly worse than five years ago.
When I was a young reporter, I heard the phrase “If it bleeds it leads” more than a few times. Tragedy, war and sorrow have long played better in the media than people living their dreams or performing good deeds.
People like to complain that the media only covers the bad stuff but they don’t want to take responsibility for their own consumption habits.
Did you know that negative headlines have a sixty percent higher click-thru rate than happy or neutral headlines? Since clicks translate to money, media outlets obviously are going to focus on the negative.
If I am LOOKING for good news and can’t find it, what hope is there for everyone else?
Good news is good for mental health. It gives us hope and brightens our day. Bad news is hard on your mental health and it encourages a sense of helplessness and despair.
We need more happiness in our lives. We need more goodness and light. The world around us is dark enough as it is. Why not go looking for the light?