© photo by michelle bryant
I don’t have cable but one of my clients watches the NBC nightly news with Brian Williams every evening and so I am kept up with the goings on in the world and country. Be it the Royal baby or the recent Connecticut tragedy, like it or not, its there slapping me in the face. Brian finishes his broadcast each night with a segment called “Making a difference” in which the show not only ends the day on a positive note but displays the goodness of people throughout this country, not just in disaster areas but all over.
Last night’s “Making a difference” was the impact ONE family made on over 1,000 families in their community this Christmas season. Brian then wrapped the evening up by saying, “It just goes to show this country is filled with good and generous people.” This statement stuck with me well into today when I was back at that same clients home. Reading her morning paper she, disgruntled and discouraged tossed it aside and said, “With everything going on in this world today it’s amazing people even send their children to school let alone go outside themselves anymore.”
I reminded her of Brian’s statement last night, “It just goes to show this country is filled with good and generous people.” As I pondered on that more it occurred to me that it doesn’t matter the season or time of year, what state you are from during a disaster, what color your skin is or the denomination of the church you belong, when the going gets tough this country DOES come together to aid one another.
And so this holiday season I would like to remind each and every one of us that as my favorite poem Desiderata by Max Ehrmann states “With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.” Therfore, I am pledging this holiday season and everyday in 2013 to not forget that fact and to remember that we ARE a nation “united.”
Because, to me, that makes us blessed.
© michelle bryant