THE QUIET OF GOODNESS
After seeing stretches of our local coast make the news headlines last week due to the selfish and ugly behaviour of a minority, I pondered long and hard on the concept of balance. What really is the true balance of good versus bad, selfish versus thoughtful? And does that kind of stupidity and lack of common sense really only exist in a minority?
I admit to being left nonplussed as I struggled to understand what possessed people to drive for miles to a well known tourist hotspot, arrive to find mass crowds but then decide, Hey… a suntan and a swim in the sea is still worth the risk. Despite the possible price to pay of spreading a virus that can kill.
The abuse aimed at members of the public services who were clearing up litter, the outbreaks of drunken fighting and an overwhelming traffic situation that clogged up every arterial road in the area didn’t go any way to convince me that good was in the majority. Neither did the strain placed on the emergency services including the requirement of multiple flights by the local air ambulance and the police having to declare the whole debacle as a major incident.
My good versus bad scale certainly wasn’t tipped in favour on seeing the after effects (as always), left on the environment. Photographs of beaches at sunrise strewn with rubbish and plastic only provided more hard evidence that we continually put our selfish “needs” over the health of the very planet we live on.
You can see why I or anyone else might spend time pondering the good/bad balance.
Determined to find a path that will help me navigate the foreseeable future with some sanity intact, I wondered if we’re able to ignore the bleak whenever possible and actively seek out the silver linings. I guess that when we reflect on all that 2020 has brought to fruition so far, it's easy to fall into a trap of imagining that thoughtless stupidity and ugliness exists in abundance.
After all, the media relentlessly shovels us up great big servings of it twenty four seven. And we continue to consume it without questioning the impact it has on our mental health or even what the true balance of things might really be. Have you noticed that even the good news is generally delivered with a negative spin to finish. The “If this had been discovered sooner…” or “If that was put into place earlier…” brigade seem highly skilled in the art of dishing out a positive nougat with one hand and then snatching it back with the other.
In an attempt to drown out the nagging thought that those who shout the loudest seem to be heard first, I choose to believe there’s a stoic quiet that accompanies goodness. Bad is newsworthy by nature of its decibel factor and ability to make you gasp in disgust or wilt with sadness. Good doesn’t quite make the grade when it comes to salaciousness that sells. Nor does it feed the twisted appetite for our continual need to subject ourselves to headlines written by people whose only goal is to grab our attention and hold it fast.
And yet you only need to have been paying a modicum of attention these last few months to hear tale after tale of acts of caring and selflessness from our NHS staff and medical staff the world over, the resilience and grit of key workers and any amount of strangers carrying out random acts of kindness.
I’m fairly certain that there’s a steely surety present in those doing the right things. I hope that for each single headline grabbing act of selfishness and stupidity there are multiple silent stories of generosity and thoughtfulness seeping in under the radar.
I hope for every person who thinks that social distancing doesn’t apply to them, there are a hundred more who will create space without a second thought. I imagine that for every idiot who discards their litter onto the sand and walks away, there are twenty more people walking onto their local beach to join a clean-up group.
I daydream that for every editor or producer who’s figured out that to grab your attention they need a clanging chime of doom as an opener, there’s one who might wonder if now would be a good time to close on something positive and uplifting. Not just once in a while but every single day.
You might think me a blind fool for believing that there is more good than bad and perhaps liken it to believing in Santa Claus each time December comes around. And if you know me at all, you know exactly how I feel about that.
Am I being naive in hoping that the good outweighs the bad? Is this the eternal optimist resurfacing after being buried too deep for too long or it is just hope in another format?
Whatever it is, I’m willing to give it a go and listen in hard for the quiet of goodness.
