The last six years have been about the darkest time in our history, particularly the last three since February 2020. And our national mood has reflected the times. I have concatenated the anecdotal evidence I, at least, saw previously. But now, quite recently only, just during the holiday season, I feel a different mood about, made up of the following concatenated anecdotes in reverse chronological order.
@RepMTG
·
Dec 28
We disagree often, but I’ll be praying for Jamie Raskin. Cancer is a terrible disease. I watched my father die from it, and it broke my heart. It’s good Rep Raskin has hope and his form of cancer is curable with the treatment he will be starting. twitter.com/foxnews/status…
12:37 PM · Dec 29, 2022
@RepRaskin
Thank you, Marjorie, for this touching message, which my youngest daughter showed me. I’m grateful for your concern and very sorry to learn that you lost your father to cancer. Wishing you happy holidays with loved ones.
-Tuesday night I went to Publix late, about 8:45. There was one shopping car available and I seized it only to find that its wheels were frozen. I muttered an oath. There was one elderly man in the store foyer, a short, elderly man who had a cane in his shopping car. He had a cart. He saw me looking frustrated and said that the carts were all on the second floor and that most of the store employees had gone for the day. "Okay," I replied in surrender and prepared to enter the store proper. "You can take mine. Here, you can take mine." He said it in a soft, sweet voice like that of a generous child. He had two small bags in the fold-out tray of the shopping cart. But he was elderly and had a cane. "Here, take mine. I'm handicapped." "Are you going to be alright?" I asked, hesitating. "Yes. Here, take it." I bestowed a thousand thanks on him, I really was touched by his offer and his manner and God blessed him a few times with an affectionate pat on the shoulder and accepted the offer.
-Tuesday I also watched a viral video of a group of people, complete strangers to one another, who had nothing more in common than being stranded by Southwest airlines at an airport up north. They were trying to get home to Knoxville, Tennessee. On the spur of the moment at the ticket counter one had the idea to rent a van. "Anybody want to rent a van?" she called to others in line. She got fourteen volunteers and they all crammed into a van and drove twelve hours to Knoxville. They made it in time to go to work.
-Stranded Southwest passengers are saying things to the media like, "It's not their fault." They're trying."
-On Monday University of Texas El Paso (UTEP) basketball coach Bob Golding saw three young men standing absently in the Dallas airport, saw them with Pitt bags, and gave them a "lift" 9 hours to the Sun Bowl game.
-Mark Woodley, the best weatherman in the sports world, delivered some light-hearted relief during the brutal holiday blizzard that enveloped Iowa and beyond. Something I would expect from Ukraine.
-Jaire Alexander. The sheer joy of Jaire brought laughter to even Miami Dolphins fans.
-I experienced the greatest frisson of goodwill in my life by helping make a family whole.
-The Soul of the Ukrainian people.
Are we kinder and gentler? Folks, I think so. Just my opinion, but I believe we are. What did it? I have an opinion on that, too. 2022 got off to the worst start imaginable but as the year wore on and the people responsible for 1/6 increasingly were held accountable, and as Trump faded further into oblivion, I think the spell did break to make us less stressed and less angry.
Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Humankind.
