January 12, 2007  This concept should be the motto of the Oh's or aughts, whatever.  It's my new adopted philosophy for the rest of my life, however long that is. The short story is this: when you do something good for some one or some organization or some business then the subsequent goodness that you bring comes back to you, and voila! you feel better as a human being, better as a participant in this crazy experiment called society.  And, not inconsequentially, other people regard you as a human being as well.  It's an unavoidable good feeling, after doing a good deed.  Kind of like the feeling that pervaded Ebenezer Scrooge when he did his abrupt about face and started helping Tiny Tim.  What a concept!  And it works. The news of the day, any day, is filled with stories, most you really don't want to hear.  It's hard to avoid hearing about the daily disasters that affect countless thousands around the world.  I'm sure that each one of us has a disaster of some kind that affects us, whatever it is - medical, family, job, etc., a sort of microcosm of the ills that we face as a society.  There are instances when we are affected by the situation but not in a position to affect the ultimate outcome.  Sort of like watching a train wreck in slow motion.  My prescription for these unfortunate situations is action of some sort, whatever it is, that may positively impact those around you or just yourself. It's easy to get carried away by all of the negativity out there.  It is important, therefore, not to screen out the positivity that is happening at the same time.  Recently, there has been coverage of Oprah building a school in South Africa for girls that will emphasize leadership.  When asked why she got personnally involved in the school, she replied that she was (I'm paraphrasing) tired of just writing checks, she wanted the satisfaction of knowing the people she was helping.  I agree with her.  Scaling down doing good to the individual level is more personal and more personnally gratifying.  Look at what Bill Gates spends his time doing.  And lots of noteworthy others. So I leave with this optimistic note for today.  Feeding your soul gives you strength.  And we all need strength. Thanks for visiting.  Stay tuned.