What A World, What A World

The headlines the past few days have been filled with some pretty atrocious occurrences; i.e., starting with the church shooting in Knoxville, Tennessee this past Sunday by the nut-job who hated liberals. From that emerged the story of one extreme act of heroism with the revelation that one man stood in front of the shooter to save other parishioners. What an act of uncommon valor. How sad for his family to lose such an honorable soul to such an extreme act of dishonor and hate.

Then, I guess it was Monday when I saw on the Internet the story about the Welsh couple that was honeymooning in Antigua, and they were attacked in their hotel room. She was shot in the head, he in the neck…she died…he’s in critical condition. Robbery was the apparent motive. Evidently, the police there have assured everyone they are on top of things. Hopefully, they will prove to be a good deal more competent than the Aruba authorities who were in charge of finding Natalee Holloway’s murderer.

The icing on the cake, however, was the snippet I read yesterday …and I promise you I didn’t delve very deeply into this one after reading the headline. Basically, it read, “Canadian couple at center of vicious machete attack comes home.” (They had been in Kenya.) I read something about someone’s arms being hacked off, and I couldn’t go any further.

I guess that’s why I’ve become a veritable hermit in my old age. I don’t go out much anymore, and I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to travel abroad. This world we live in has turned into one scary place.

From those horrendous stories, we go to the insanely stupid in that I am evidently supposed to be concerned about Keira Knightley and the fact that she is fighting some producer or somebody to keep them from digitally “enhancing” her less than ample bosom in an upcoming movie. Why is this important, I ask you? Why is this considered “newsworthy?” I mean I like her okay, but I don’t give a rat’s ass about the size of her breasts, or if Lindsay is in or out of rehab this week, or the latest catastrophe surrounding Britney. I am forever amazed and appalled by what the so-called “press” considers worth reporting about in this country.

So, this morning as I was about to walk out the door, I happened upon the following story on the “Today Show.” It tells a unique story. The very best kind of story actually…one of trust and hope and unconditional love. You may have seen the video already…more than seven million people have. But I wanted it here on my blog as a reminder to myself that there are still some stories worth telling, worth sharing…some valuable lessons still to be taught…to be learned. And though it sure doesn’t feel like it sometimes, the world…and those of us who stumble-bumble along trying to make our way through it…can still be a pretty neat place.