Why

I'm 20 weeks pregnant with my first child. The wee one has taken it easy on me - no upchucking, no food aversions, and only occassional random cry fests. Emotionally my husband Arik and I have generally been zen and cheery. We're excited and happy and enjoying the ride.

We were jolted out of our doe-eyed reverie yesterday. We met my mom for lunch and she'd run into one of Arik's mom's old friends while she waited for us. They were chatting when we walked in. We exchanged the standard pleasantries, then talk turned to the babe. Arik and I smiled and waited for the now standard good wishes and congratulations. Instead we got this: "I can't imagine bringing a child into the world today. It's a horrible place."

We mumbled something about trying to do a good job despite that, my mom diplomatically assured us that "at least the baby will have great parents," and we bid adieu to the I'm sure well-meaning, gray haired basset hound of doom. I tried to melt into the eatery's peaceful surroundings as we tucked into our food (it's a vegetarian buffet nestled in a temple- it's usually easy to feel mellow) but a dark cloud nibbled at the edges of the normally cotton-candy-scented thoughts I have about the birth of our kiddo.  Had we made a grave, selfish mistake by bringing a new baby into a rotten world?

If you watch the news, it's hard to argue otherwise. I live in Dallas, and a visit to a local news website guarantees tales of murders, rapes, and corruption. U.S. and world news are even worse- there are bombings, mass killings, and environmental disasters. There's hunger and extreme poverty and general trampling of human rights.

But Arik and I talked about it on the way home and decided we don't buy it. We're not naive- we know people do really shitty things to other people, animals, and the planet. But we have a feeling that's just part of the story. The good stuff, the stuff that helps explain how in the world humans are still here after centuries of wars and subjugation and abuse, is out there. It just gets swallowed up in the muck of the bad news; hidden in the lost pages of local newspapers. That stuff is what makes life worth living and makes adding more life to the world (via a wee babe) worth doing.

That's not to say that it's not insanely important that the "bad stuff" be chronicled and exposed. You can't work to fix things if you don't know they're broken.

But I believe strongly that overall, the world's a good place. That it is made up of mostly good people. And that, excluding some likely angst-ridden teen years, our kiddo won't curse us for bringing him or her into it.

That's the theory anyway. Now for the proof.

My mission is to survey the news of the day and find proof that the world's a good place. I don't really have a systematic way of doing that worked out, and I have a full time job, so this'll be pretty scattershot. I'll share what I find.

Hopefully this ends up being a nice compendium of evidence that the world isn't going to shit and that humanity isn't doomed. That's a lofty goal- so I'll be content if it brings a little sunshine to the usually depressing practice of checking in on what's going on in the world.

If I fail miserably at finding my proof, don't be surprised if I go nuts and start making up stories. I have a lot invested in this little dude or dudette wiggling around in my belly, and I couldn't stand it if he or she plopped out of my womb and into a vat of hopeless crap. At least the made up tales should be easy to identify- they'll likely feature cheese pizza, giggling wombats, and shooting stars. I have faith that it won't come to that.

Enough dilly dallying. On with the search.