The wind bites hard on frozen cheeks. Around me nature is covered in white. Only the crunch of my footsteps can be heard above the wind. Above me the sun fades behind thick gray clouds. With each step the path grows darker and my breath harder. My vision blurs and legs weaken at the knees. My mind tries to convince me to give up but your face appears and I move forward. An eternity passes and with the last strand of energy, I round the corner to see the light from your window shining a path through the darkness. Home!

“No man is without fear.”

 He was handsome beyond imagination, more intelligent than any human alive, a leader of men, a captain of industry, successful in all pursuits and loved by all that knew him. Women swooned at the sight of him, men bowed low in his presence and children studied his greatness in school. Rulers of nations envied him. He lowered his head to no one on earth. Except for his mother and father. For they new he was afraid of the dark.

“Our deeds determine who we are”

 I know it’s hard not to believe that the world is ‘going to hell in a hand basket’ particularly with so much negativity going on right now. I’m talking about a government shutdown, political feuds over who might be right and who might be wrong when we all know that none of them have a clue. Then we are faced with tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanoes that seem to be ripping the world apart.

But now that 2018 has joined her brothers and sisters in the annals of history, we find ourselves still kicking and breathing. Still scratching our heads and wondering what the heck is happening.

Friends, I hate to say it but such is the nature of this race known as mankind. Bad news makes us feel better than good news because it reminds us that someone else is worse off than we are. It’s up to us though to choose how we wish to live our lives.

We can plop our children down in front of the 72” plasma with surround sound and show them the chaos of the world in vivid 4K color or we can pack a lunch and head off to the park to play in the sunshine and talk face to face with other people. I for one prefer the later and choose to look for the good in mankind. I know that I can’t change the hearts of my fellow man but I can at least choose to not let my fellow man change my heart.

So let’s sit back and take a quick look at some people and countries that have decided enough was enough and chose to make the world a better place. In 2017, people like Bill and Melinda Gates, Michael and Suzanne Dell, Warren Buffet, Henry Hillman, Michael Bloomberg, Florence Irving and Charles Butt combined to donate over 10 Billion dollars to various charities.

In 2018, Columbia, South America added 5800 more square miles to its protected rainforest, bringing the total to 17,000 square miles. The Pakistani government pledged to plant over 10 billion trees to restore 50,000 acres of forest. Sweden opened the first electronic road which recharges your car battery while driving on it. In Detroit two 14 year old girls turned in a wallet with the cash still in it to authorities. It was returned to the disabled veteran that lost it in the snow. In London a bus driver, former a homeless man was given an award to recognize him for always smiling. China placed a ban on ivory and the demand (and subsequent poaching) decreased by nearly 50%.

Yes, there are tons of bad apples thrown into the barrel of life, but we can’t let their deeds govern us. We must let our own deed determine who we are.