Have you met a good person lately?

[MoseyWalker]

We are so conditioned to thinking that everyone around us listens to CNN or FOX or MSNBC news, that it may come as a shock to some that many don't.

and, they are good people.

I have met a few lately.

I met foster parents that work very hard to provide a good and healthy home for kids.

I met people who make almost next to nothing working for non profit agencies doing everything they can to make certain these homes work not only for the foster parents, but especially for the children.

I have seen kids that everyone wrote off, and I'm talking teachers, parents and the legal system, turn it around and become caring people.

I have seen it, and met many good people lately.

The cuts in social programs mean they will never make any money, but they struggle to survive and persevere.

I admire these people so much, I had to say something about them.

I work next to them, and I am in awe with how they take what comes at them from the feds and the state governments regarding funding cuts, and still do what they seemingly were born to do.

I have met a hell of a lot of good people lately. Have you?

[chill_wind]

1. An entire team of Nurses and a Social Worker.

that cared for my parent who needed several days of transient medical treatment for a chronic ailment while traveling top my list of most recent. Their good will, flexible good nature, exceptional humor and pure compassion was beyond description. We have written to them since, and will be sending a small gift of remembrance that we know will be ok for them to accept. They were extraordinarily capable, caring and kind!

[Demit]

2. The workers at my relative's nursing home. They are consistently

cheerful, and pleasant, and polite, and they make me feel good about the care there. I admire them.

[Cleita]

3. Yes, I have met quite a few, but like the rest of us they feel

helpless over what is going on that is beyond their control.

[Dover]

4. Thanks. Easy to forget that the internet and t.v. are not reality.

Especially for those who spend alot of time interacting online or watching the t.v. and not mixing it up so much out in the REAL world.

There are MANY good people. In fact I'll go so far as to say they are the norm rather than the exception. But that's not always so apparent online or if you watch too much news and "real" t.v.
Perhaps we are simply getting more and more disconnected from experiencing each other in the flesh.

A case in point. My elderly neighbors are pretty house bound and watch t.v. all the time. And that has caused them to feel very fearful of their safety in general. Even though they are very safe and surrounded by caring neighbors and family, if there is a story on the news about a burglary or other crime committed clear across the county or state, they want to put up security lights and burglar bars and change the locks. They are suspicious of people who come to do work for them around the house. It's not like they live in a bad neighborhood in the city or anything close. But their reality is shaped by the tube and they've concluded that it's a mad, mad world out there where kindnesses are few.

So I asked them when the last time was that they or anyone they knew or was around them fell victim to (whatever the crime du jour was)?
Of course no one had. But that possibility seemed to hold more weight than the reality. So they don't trust life or others. They are prisoners to their fears, and life has lost its abundance and grace and joy.

Now that IS a crime.

[donco6]

5. My school bus drivers are good people.

They are always cheerful and happy to see the kids - really! They talk about them all the time - how funny they are, what they said that day, what they learned in school. We're lucky to have such a good crew. It gives me some hope in mankind.

We just started school and it's always hectic - this year especially since we offered choice to any school and are transporting kids to their choice. We had 90 phone calls yesterday, and our drivers stayed after work to return every one of the calls - their idea. I think we should give them a medal.

[Hekate]

6. Memorial service for an old activist was full of good people

Art Schwartz, 82, passed away suddenly at the end of July and his memorial was last Saturday evening. I met him through the VFP, but he was involved in just about everything having to do with peace, permaculture, and the Green Party. KPFK radio sent a representative, and former gov. candidate Peter Camejo dropped what he was doing to drive several hours to make an appearance too.

His voter reg/Green table was a fixture at the local Farmers Markets. True story: a couple of officious cops tried to move him off one time, probably for excessive political advertising, who the heck knows. Art's statement to them was: "Let me get this straight. You're going to arrest an 80-year-old combat veteran for registering people to vote." They left.

The last time I saw him he was in the VFP contingent at the 4th of July parade, tooling along in his motorized tricycle.

He'll be greatly missed, but there are more people like him out there, still working their asses off for the greater good. Smile when you see them, and pitch in.

Hekate

[seabeyond]

7. i meet and am around good people all the time.

by and far a strong majority