Bad News Is Dead

I wanna read good news good news I wanna be innocent again I wanna read good news good news But nothing good is happening — "Good News" performed by Something Corporate

When 60 Minutes interviewed Captain Sully about his now-infamous Hudson River landing, Katie Couric asked him why the story of Flight 1549 is so captivating to Americans. While I would have laughed at the obvious nature of her question, Sully's response was the first right-on thing I had heard in a long time. He told her that people really want more "good news" in their lives.

I couldn't agree more. We have an economy in the sh*tter, two ongoing wars, climate change and crazy mothers giving birth to octuplets. Many of us are choosing to give up reading the news entirely. "I'd rather have a barium enema than watch CNN," a friend told me yesterday. Not a bad idea given that the government will soon bail out the enema industry.

Earlier this week on NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams asked his viewers to suggest good news about which he and his team could report. Apparently, Williams received thousands of responses. He told the Associated Press that one viewer wrote: "We all know it's bad, but the news makes us feel like crawling under a rock."

Before you look for a shovel to begin digging your new home under that rock, take a moment to pay attention to the positive actions of your family, friends, colleagues and neighbors. While we will see some viewer good news air on NBC next week, Williams will not be able to air thousands of stories. So, when you see someone you know commit a random act of kindness, share it with us!

Unlike NBC, we are not restricted to 60-second reports once a day — bookended with murders, killings, disease and economic sob stories. We will print thousands of your stories about random acts of kindness you witness around our world. I repeat — thousands!

All you need to do is submit your Random Act of Kindness to: editor@tonic.com.

Your good news is here. Someone let Something Corporate know so they can change their lyrics.