I found a morning radio show that I love because it's fairly unpredictable and definitely funny with a lot of really good things mixed in. Helpful thoughts, doing good deeds, stuff like that. I will spare you the background story of why he was there, but recently they had Jerry Springer on and talked to him about a few different things. And at one point, one of the djs asked him since he's been doing his show for over twenty years now, does he think humanity has gotten worse through the years? I thought it was a great question, but his answer really astounded me. He said absolutely not. The change is that we broadcast our terribleness so much more easily now through social media, but we should remember that we had a Holocaust before we had Twitter.
This has haunted me a little bit since I heard it. I can't stop thinking about it.
I got the original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton and I can't stop listening to it because strangely a story set in the late 1700s and beginning of the 1800s is so amazingly timely. I hear them sing "we're so lucky to be alive right now" and it is striking because I often think the same thing. I didn't grow up embarrassing myself on social media but I'm comfortable enough with technology to have embraced the good parts of it now. I drive all over the place for work but never hesitate to do so because of my trusty navigation app. I'm old enough to not care quite as much about what other people think and to be able to glean wisdom from both my experiences and those from people around me. I do feel lucky to be alive right now.
We had a Holocaust before we had Twitter.
I think people are terrible. But I think there is so much good and beauty and love in the world that the terribleness will never completely overtake the good. For everyone driving like a maniac and assuming they are the only one on a time crunch and they are more important, there are two or three cars I see letting people merge into their lanes and other nice things you can do in traffic. For all the uncertainty about Trump actually being our President on Friday, nonprofits have seen a dramatic increase in donations and volunteers. Even as bleak and devastating and evil as the Holocaust was, there were so many quiet heros doing everything they could in their little corner of the world to not let evil prevail.
I believe in the good. There is beauty that will rise from ashes, always.
