I just watched a little news break thingy.  You know, one of those little briefs, with the top five stories of the day.  None of the little bites were things that I want in my head.  Not one.

Then I went over to Twitter and I saw a whole lotta ugly.  For some reason, there is some nasty stuff going on tonight.  Trolling.  Unnecessary and horrid.  It left a foul taste in my mouth.

And it got me wondering, what is that all about?

What is it, that compels one human to behave so despicably towards another?  How? Why?

Over on Facebook there’s a thing going around about sharing gratitude.  Which is lovely.  I keep a gratitude journal, have done for quite a while now, writing down at least five things every day I’m grateful for.  Sometimes it’s a pretty shitty list, and other times it is insightful.  Or interesting.  Or humbling.

But the thing that always underpins the whole thing, is a gratitude for life.  This life.  This one chance we have.  This here and now.  I’ve had too many people I care about die, and if I’m lucky enough to live on, there will be more.  So many more.  So I’m grateful to be alive in this time, this town, with these people.  Singing and dancing along.

Perhaps if everyone on this spinning blue globe could be so grateful, the news bulletins would be something inspiring to watch.  People on Twitter would play nice.  And Facebook?  Well there’d be no need for gratitude reminders, because we would all be thankful all the time.

I reckon that would be something newsworthy.

…From The Ashers xx