By Sean Proctor
 

“There was another civil war, another terrorist bomb exploded, and one more plane crashed and all aboard were presumed dead. The crime rate was rising in every city with populations larger than 100,000, and a farmer in Iowa shot his banker after foreclosure on his 1,000 acres."

“A kid from Spokane won the local spelling bee by spelling the word rhinoceros.”

Sherman Alexie wrote this as the daily news in his story “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.”

The news in the fictional story written well over a decade ago parallels the news of today. Wolf Blitzer daily reminds us of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, deals between the Taliban and Pakistan, a rogue Kim Jong-il with supposed nuclear capabilities to blow up the entire universe save North Korea.

And then there’s the economy.

And if you’ve read but a handful of my columns, you would likely too be discouraged with the death, the oppression, the hypocrisy of a nation that has historical roots in not taking care of its own. The kids, the blacks, the non-Christians, the gays, the women, the poor, the Latinos, and so forth.
And then there’s the economy.

But what of this kid, from Spokane, that Alexie pointed out? This kid who got a single line of praise amidst the gloom of our world?

This kid is the one I am currently interested in though I know little about him because he receives such little press. Indeed, he was only mentioned after the mountains of destruction, and even then it was but a single line.

In a world in which evil is dominant and good seems so often to yield to the domineering powers, I am currently interested in that kid—in what he represents, something positive, and something praiseworthy, something good.

There must be thousands of stories in which charity wins. Yes, there must be hundreds of thousands of people who fight in the struggle for justice.

Somewhere – somewhere over that rainbow  - there must be someone who has done something worthy of praise, even if it is only spelling the word rhinoceros at some spelling bee.

CNN has this thing called “Heroes: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Impact.” It’s a forum in which ordinary people – you and I – can nominate people who make a positive impact in society.

There are people who clean up mountains in Argentina, lawyers who help young girls – some under the age of 10 – divorce (that’s right, you heard me, divorce) their 30, 35, 40-year-old husbands, and surviving mothers of deceased children who help keep other children from dying of the same condition from which their own children died.

And then there is the combat version of Wal-Mart greeters. A nearly blind Vietnam veteran is the last face many soldiers see prior to deploying to combat. And he is one of the first to greet them should they return. CNN records him greeting some 20,000 soldiers since he started in 2004.

And of course there are the people you and I know. Those who smile at us every day. They say good morning and bid us farewell. There are those professors who inspire us despite their nasty exams. Some people hold the door for us. Some people say please and follow with a thank you.

Some drive us to school while some buy us lunch because that damn economy has affected us so. And some help us study – free tutoring until we can finally understand the concepts late into the night.

These, and countless more, are but a fraction of the stories that go unheard on a daily basis. One would think human nature is purely evil if the news, the politics, the world affairs is the only source of information.

But there is a silent majority out there peacefully combating the world’s ills—our ills. But we may never know of it because their news always yields to the important news of the day: the wars, the bombs, the plane crashes.

And then there’s the economy.

Too often the good remains unheard. The perils take over and I go and write a column about them as if evil is all humanity has to offer. How absurd.

‘Tis quite the noble effort CNN has thus partaken in their “Heroes” program. Exposure should greaten; goodness and kindness ought to spread like wildfire.

It can happen here on campus too. Res Life has made tensions thick. And this economy coupled with annual tuition increases depresses us even more. And sometimes I really think our professors have no hearts.

But kindness can come to Elmhurst just as well. We can begin by something simple.

With all of our expertise, and with 100 percent of the campus Facebook literate, surely someone can start a blog that exposes the heroes in our daily lives? It would be rather simple, kind of nerdy perhaps, and I suppose the benefits would not be tangible as smiles cannot be quantified.

But for sure it would be worth it for its simplicity alone.

SGA already sponsors an Unsung Heroes Award. But that deadline passed last week and is only once a semester. This blog could last all year, updated regularly.

“So and So helps out with the ELSA program – and she’s taking five classes. Not to mention she works part time! Here go some pictures of her with the ELSA students.”

“Professor So and Dr. So organized a trip to help villages in Africa. Are you kidding me? That’s awesome!”

“So and So went downtown with some club to feed some homeless people. Then he came back to campus for baseball practice. Oh, and he’s married with kids too. His wife baked cookies for him to bring to class the other day. They were kind of burned – but brightened up my day! Thanks So and So’s wife!”

Get the point? It would be simple, but the results are immeasurable—cynicism yielding to smiles.

Think about it. Start it up. And if you have any ideas, check out the Leader’s web site at www.ecleader.com, go to this column, and post a comment offering your ideas. Or post something nice that So and So has done. Let’s try it out, and see where this kindness goes.