What a Wonderful World!

If you turn on the news at 5:00 or 11:00, the first five minutes are filled with one horrific story after another. Murders, robberies, terrible accidents. You would think that nothing good happened to anyone that day. If there is a positive, good Samaritans' type of story reported, it is usually buried somewhere after the weather. If the news was our only source of info, we would conclude that this is a very bad world.

We are living in difficult times. Among my friends and family, everyone has a story. Some are suffering economic issues, others have health problems and some are grieving the loss of a loved one. If you randomly stop a person on the street, they will have a story very similar to these.

All of these woes reminded me of an episode of an old television show. The show was called "Moonlighting" and it was on back in the 80s. It starred Cybil Shepherd and Bruce Willis. I don't remember all of the details of the episode and if anyone else does, please feel free to fill me in. To the best of my recollection this is what happened.

One of the characters was pregnant and the cameras pretended to go inside of the womb. A "spiritual" guide of some sort was talking to the baby that was soon to be born. The baby was able to communicate back with the guide. The baby was asking questions about what the world was like that he/she was about to be born into.

The guide used a large movie-like screen and showed the baby wars being fought around the world, people dying of illness and hunger. Then the screen showed children crying, burning buildings and other disasters. The baby looked scared and sad and said that the world was a very bad place and he did not want to be born into it. The guide understood but told the baby that he had more to show of this world. The next screen had a meadow of beautiful flowers growing, young couples falling in love. Then there were amusement parks and children playing and laughing in the beautiful sunshine. Family gatherings and weddings, all wonderful life events.The song by Louis Armstrong, "What a Wonderful world" was playing as each scene was shown. Now the baby smiled and said that he wanted to experience those things too and he did indeed want to be born.

The world is the first five minutes of the news but it is also the happy events that never make it on the news. There are bad things happening every day all around us. But there are good people helping one another, caring about others and taking care of those they love.

Yes, it is a wonderful world!