I need you to do something for me

Don't worry. There's no risk of sleeping with the fishes.

I need a favor of you.

It'll be pretty easy. Pretty painless. Might even make you feel good.

I need you to help me restore my faith in humanity.

"Oh, is that all? No problem!" you may be saying. But I think it may be easier than you think.

I've been incredibly disheartened and disillusioned by our society lately. The vitriolic, vindictive, and hateful way we talk about/to anyone who has views different from our own, using political party labels as spiteful playground epithets, the utter lack of concern and/or disdain we have for anyone who has less than us and may need our help.

The real capper for me was this article I read yesterday. A woman, on the advice of her church (WTH?) dumped her 19-year-old severely handicapped daughter in a bar. She drove to another state, went to a bar she'd never seen before, and literally pushed her child through the door and left (driving back home to her other children). She didn't leave the girl (who cannot communicate and has the mental age of a 3-year-old) with a note for the people who would find her, no money, not even a hug goodbye. I found this quite despicable. But what bothered me the most was the overwhelming number of people in the comments defending this woman. Saying her actions were perfectly understandable and the state was right not to charge her with any misdeed.

Not everyone, of course. Other people, especially those who have some connection to a disabled person, were outraged that she wouldn't go to a hospital or a social services office or a church (just not hers, apparently, jeez) or somewhere other than an unknown bar in another state when she felt she couldn't care for her child anymore. They were angry that she didn't show any emotion or regret about dumping someone who had been in her life for nineteen years in such a callous way. They sympathized with the difficulty of her situation, many of them being in the same boat themselves, but they disagreed vehemently with her way of dealing with it.

But overwhelmingly, people didn't think she'd really done anything wrong. I know, the people who comment on news stories are not representative of our society as a whole. But it really discouraged me that there were that many people willing to take the time to type out a response to defend this woman who just shit-canned her kid.

Now, I know not everyone is an uninformed, heartless cad. I know there are millions of good-hearted folks out there trying to do the right thing and looking out for each other. I am well aware of that, and honestly, that knowledge is what keeps me sticking around on this earth. But sometimes, a gal needs a little proof.

So, do this favor for me.

Show me.

Do something good today.
It doesn't have to be a huge gesture. Just be nice to someone.

Pay for that kid's ice cream cone.
Offer that elderly man your seat on the bus.
Help out that mom whose kid just threw her pacifer across the restaurant.
Make a donation (whatever you can do, however small) to a charity that's doing work to help others.
Compliment someone.
Open a door for someone.
Check in with someone you know has been having a tough time lately.
Go out of your way to make someone's day a little easier, a little brighter.

Then tell me what you did.

You can comment on this blog, or on my Facebook post, or through your own mechanisms.
Pass it around. Encourage others to do the same for you. The bad in the world is getting so much attention right now; let's focus some light on the good. And prove that human beings really aren't bastard-coated bastards with bastard filling.
Thank you.