The Good Outnumber the Bad

Today, with all the sad news in the country, my thoughts are with those affected by it all.  

The people in the very small town of West, Texas are dealing with the explosion and subsequent fires at the fertilizer plant.  It is such a small town that it's one of those "everybody knows everybody AND their grandmother" type of places.  I couldn't imagine the feeling that these people are feeling in that everyone that I have seen interviewed on the news knows more than one person who was affected by this.  There was one man who is helping to identify the bodies when asked how many of them he knew, he softly said "All of them."  So very sad.

Those in Boston, not only dealing with the bombings at the Boston Marathon but now dealing with their entire city being locked down while the police and military search for those responsible.  I can't begin to imagine the fear those poor have been dealing with for the last few days.  I shared something on my personal Facebook page that I want to share here:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/16/tech/social-media/patton-oswalt-facebook-boston/index.html?sr=sharebar_facebook

(CNN) -- Comedian-actor Patton Oswalt may not seem the most likely person to soothe the wounded national psyche after thedeadly bombs that struck the Boston Marathon. Oswalt has no obvious ties to Boston, and he makes a living telling jokes, not comforting the afflicted.

But Oswalt's eloquent thoughts about the attacks, which he posted Monday afternoon to his Facebook page, have been widely passed around the Internet as an inspiring testament to humankind's inherent goodness in the face of evil. (Warning: he uses strong language.)

"I remember, when 9/11 went down, my reaction was, 'Well, I've had it with humanity.' But I was wrong,' " wrote Oswalt, best known as the voice of Remy the rat from "Ratatouille" and for playing Spencer on TV's "The King of Queens."

"This is a giant planet and we're lucky to live on it but there are prices and penalties incurred for the daily miracle of existence. One of them is, every once in awhile, the wiring of a tiny sliver of the species gets snarled and they're pointed towards darkness," he wrote.

"But the vast majority stands against that darkness and, like white blood cells attacking a virus, they dilute and weaken and eventually wash away the evil doers and, more importantly, the damage they wreak. This is beyond religion or creed or nation. We would not be here if humanity were inherently evil. We'd have eaten ourselves alive long ago.

"So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, 'The good outnumber you, and we always will.' "

As of Tuesday afternoon, Oswalt's post had received more than 300,000 Likes and had been shared more than 220,000 times.

It has also garnered more than 12,000 comments on Facebook. Among them was this one, from a woman in Annapolis, Maryland:

"Sharing this message. This is exactly what I told my children last night. The good will always outnumber the bad. My husband was there and is safe. But my heart is just broken for those who are not."

Please, let's all keep these towns and all the people affected by these tragedies in our thoughts and prayers.  And let's make sure the Good outnumber the bad!