Yes, I've been on Twitter again --that is a constant. The tone has changed there, though. There's a lot of anger, it seems, and daily, we are inundated with proof that the ruling classes of more than one nation in this world are fundamentally unwise.
But if you look for it, there are glimmers that good things are happening, too. When we are confronted with very clear evidence of the inhumane end results of policies that were taken for granted as 'the way things are' several years ago, an interesting phenomenon occurs: people are deciding to look more actively into alternatives. Even better than that, people are finding places in their lives to build in more empathy, more kindness. There are small examples everywhere of people choosing their communities over their own selfish interests (note: when I talk about community over individual, I am talking about being thoughtful, not self-immolation --we need people to be themselves, too!).
Here's a recent news story from the Seattle Times about the owner of the Pike Place Fish Market selling his business to his employees. He could have made a lot more off of the sale, but he thought it was more important to show some loyalty to the people who made the business what it is and to give them an opportunity at the same time.
Here's a story about giving a 13-year old help in getting the proper permits to run a hot dog stand instead of shutting it down from Teen Vogue.
Lest we forget (you know --since some people never gave it the attention it deserved), there's the story of James Shaw, Jr..
These types of stories are all over the place. Some of them have some parts where humans have forgotten their empathy (as in Mr. Shaw's story), but what people have been inspired to do matters. The darkness is there, but so is the hope.
Sometimes, we have to be our own heroes. We need to notice villainy when we see it in ourselves and others, but that doesn't need to be where we stop in our stories. Notice the heroes. Notice those chances where we can (and do!) do the right thing. That is how we will reach "happily ever after".