Feel Good Stories for a Challenging December

There's plenty of bad news in the world on any given day, and while plenty of it is relevant, much of it isn't. Beyond that, the goal of shocking people with horrific news often crowds out the good news. I had a thought the other day: the message of Jesus Christ is referred to as the "gospel" - Koine Greek for "good news". The four books of the Bible discussing the course of Christ's life are known as the "gospels". Remembering that made me wonder if Christ's message, and the message of his life, received those names because they served as such a contrast to the "bad news" of most people's lives. Good news can be a profoundly powerful thing.

I don't have anything as profound as the gospel to share, but with all of the bad news that's being thrown about at the moment, I figured I'd post three pieces of gospel - good news that have caught my eye lately.

Kuwait Times: Kuwait Times: Respecting Expatriates CNN: 'I don't feel like he's dead': Son vindicated as father rescued after 12 days at sea - A fisherman named Ron Ingraham was lost at sea for twelve days aboard his fishing boat. He had basically been given up for dead by everyone but his son, but twelve days after activating his distress beacon, he was found. That's the kind of true story they make movies out of. It's good news.

BBC News: How the West is cutting teen pregnancy - This one's bittersweet, because it would be great if there were better ways to prevent teens from putting themselves in a position to get pregnant in the first place. That said, the statistics suggest that teen pregnancy rates have been declining for years, as have teen abortion rates, and both of those are good things.

Kuwait Times: Kuwait Times: Respecting Expatriates - This one may not make sense to most folks, but I spent more than a year in the Gulf, so this is pretty good news to me. It's an op-ed by a Kuwaiti guy who's recognizing the poor treatment that many domestic servants and laborers receive at the hands of their Kuwaiti employers. He goes on to suggest that such treatment is un-Islamic, runs contrary to the Quran and the Sunna (the practices of Mohammed), and that Kuwaitis should take that difference as a cue to treat expatriate workers with respect. Having spent the last few years reading occasional horror stories of just how badly domestic servants working in the Gulf are treated, and having witnessed de facto slavery with my own eyes, reading such a sentiment from a Kuwaiti is good news to me.

So, there you have it: some recent good news, compliments of yours truly.