Man, it seems like there’s just a whole lot of bad news in the world right now, doesn’t it?

Ebola, of course, is all over the media. The enterovirus is also making regular appearances with the talking heads, too.

Then, we have ISIS, or ISIL depending on who’s doing the talking, making waves in the Middle East.

Just today, I heard about the Director of the FBI making a statement alluding to it isn’t a matter of IF but WHEN the United States suffers another terrorist attack, and the WHEN might be closer than we’d previously thought. Not sure what that really means, though.

They’re saying the economy is improving but I know a hell of a lot of people who’d disagree with that.

And those are all just the high points, the headlines if you will.

Add it all up and you might be thinking, Is the end of the world as we know it coming soon?

The short answer is, well, I don’t know. My crystal ball has been on the fritz lately and I’m not a big fan of tea to begin with, let alone examining the wet dregs left at the bottom of the cup. Nobody truly has the ability to see what the future holds, not with any degree of certainty. If they did, don’t you think there would be a whole lot more psychic lottery winners?

The fact is, we hear a lot more bad news than good. If it bleeds, it leads, is the saying often used in the media. They don’t want to run feel-good stories, they want drama. Given the choice between running a story about a young child who died in his sleep and a story about a young child who was saved from a runaway car, the death wins each and every time.

Think about it like this for a second. If you work outside the home, odds are you talk to coworkers at least once in a while. I’m betting there’s at least one person at work who talks about their significant other (SO) in a not-too-wonderful sort of way. He forgot her birthday…again. Or she is always nagging on him. He or she doesn’t eat right, snores, whatever. As a result, you sometimes wonder just why the heck the employee stays with that person, right? Often, what you don’t hear is how the SO buys flowers frequently, and for no apparent reason. Or how the SO always has a nice dinner waiting on the table. Maybe they are a great parent to the kids and a loving spouse who just has a few foibles that get on your friend’s nerves from time to time.

The world is sort of like that SO and the media is your coworker. All you hear is the negative crap that happens. Rarely do you hear about the good stuff, the stories that, even if just for a moment, give you hope for humanity.

I’m not saying the world is just all sunshine and rainbows and that the media has to really work to find the bad stuff. That certainly isn’t the truth. There’s plenty of negativity out there, just waiting for its 15 minutes of fame, so to speak. Nor am I saying you should put on blinders and go through life whistling the theme to Sesame Street, flat out ignoring anything negative in the news.

What I am saying, though, is that for every story about a cop who went off the rails and tased an old woman for little to no reason, there are five stories about a cop who saved a woman from an abusive husband. For every story about the enterovirus taking the life of a young boy, there are ten stories about people who won their battle with cancer.

Tragedy happens, that’s just a fact of being alive. And hearing about these bad stories can sometimes help you to appreciate how well things are in your own life. You might be broker than broke and fighting off bill collectors, but at least all your kids are alive and in decent health.

Y’know, once upon a time, we all got together and stopped smallpox, stopped it dead. And that was with 1970s medical knowledge and technology. In your pocket or on your belt is a computer that is far faster and more complex than anything they had back then.

Look, what I’m getting at is this — there’s an awful lot of bad stuff going on right now in the world. But, there’s always been a lot of bad stuff happening. It just isn’t anything new, really. Rather than dwell on it and convince yourself that the world is turning to crap right before our eyes, take a moment to breathe and appreciate life. Give your kids and your own significant other a hug. Call your parents and tell them you love them. Wave hello to a neighbor and smile while you’re doing it. Keep your head up…that’s the best way to see the joys of life that surround you.