Good at Heart?: What to Do If You’re Starting to Lose Faith in Humankind

At work at WSHU Radio this past June, about to pop open the microphone to do a local break as the afternoon host of All Things Considered, an NPR news show - and I wipe tears from my eyes first. 

Why? The story I just heard, about a nursing home in Kansas that is teamed with a school - and both the kids and the seniors are thriving.

Yes, these are happy tears. People can be so amazing.

Today, after a holiday weekend filled with people - a July 4th backyard party (someone else’s backyard - all I had to do was bake some Rocky Road Brownies and show up, woot!), swimming in our pool, dinner out with my friend since 2nd grade (that is a looooong time ago, in case you’re wondering) and our hubbies, and a family dinner with 2 of my 3 grandkids home from camp - I do not want to click on the newsfeed on my iPad.

I like my bubble, and I’m lucky to have one. I know that. Even though the bubble bursts now and then (like when my son has a relapse in schizophrenia treatment and/or addiction), I have learned to live with gratitude as well as the moments of grief.

But the NEWSFEED?

Oh. My. God.

Yes, it is my job, as radio news anchor and also concerned citizen, to keep up. So - I stay informed. However, the stuff that makes us click online does tend toward the sensational. Questions. Accusations. Predictions. Opinions. Judgment.

And yet I click. Much of the time.

So - I’m not a total Pollyanna. I do not live with my head in the sand. I work with my eyes and ears - and voice - on the news.

But I also will not live my life 24/7 stuck on the headlines. 

Anne Frank - Still Changing Lives

If we are to make a difference in this world, we also need hope. We need to believe, on some level, in the goodness of people. Because, god knows, there’s enough info at our fingertips to convince us we’re doomed.

Anne Frank famously wrote, 

“In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death.”

Yes, we all know how that story ended. And yet - Anne left her mark on so many lives, and I often find myself looking for signs of that truth - that there is goodness in us. 

That belief is where hope - and action - begin.

Here are some favorite sources if you, too, need a reminder that we humans are capable of great kindness and love as well as all the other traits and choices we may hear about in the news.

If you need a lift, or to balance anger and despair with some stories and experiences  from the other point of view - that people are still, also, “good at heart” , I recommend:

My Unsung Hero - Stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression

StoryCorps - “Our mission: to help us believe in each other by illuminating the humanity and possibility in us all — one story at a time.”

The Foundation for Art and Healing - their mission, their free films. Take a few minutes and view an award winning short film that will remind you how much humans mean to each other.

Humankind videos - cute babies, kind acts, heartwarming reunions…from USA Today

Red Cross Blood Bank - I can’t donate blood anymore, but I volunteered for a year, and always left there feeling better about people. The nicest folks, donating as well as helping out.

There is something called “confirmation bias” “tendency to search for, interpret, favor and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values” according to wikipedia - you see what you set your brain to look for, and also for proof of what you already believe. (Think about the color red, then go out in the world and you’ll see so many red things). 

So what if we decide to  look for, to notice,  the good? - for the person who holds the door for you, the driver who lets you pass, the people hugging hello at the airport (okay, I got that from Love, Actually, but it works), the camp counselor who calms a crying child, the musicians playing at the town gazebo, the social workers, teachers, nurses, volunteers.

Yeah,  maybe I’m a little bit of a Pollyanna - an informed Pollyanna. 

I am not at all suggesting we close our eyes to what’s happening in our world.

 I am thinking maybe we can open our eyes some more to the other side of human nature - so we are reminded of what we are fighting for.

There is a lot to absorb these days, and there is work to be done. Lots of it. But maybe it begins with a confirmation of the belief that we’re worth saving. Our country. The flawed humans who live here, capable of so much bad, but also so much good. Let’s remember the Good at Heart, and then go out and do our part.