While skimming through your Facebook news feed, I’m pretty sure that you’ve had a chance to see at least one, if not all of the following viral videos: One video shows a homeless man feeding a parking meter, so that the owner of the car doesn’t receive a ticket. Or maybe you caught the one of the tremendously grateful kid who first receives a cutting board as a prank and then receives a tablet, but for both gifts he displays a great amount of gratitude. Recently a video went viral, which shows a deputy caring for 3 children whose parent’s tragically died on Halloween. He not only takes care of the children, but ensures that they have a great night until their grandma, who would later give them the tragic news, drives in from Florida. If you did’t get a chance to see any of the videos, then maybe you saw the one of the guy around his 30’s, giving his mother a house as a birthday gift.
These were all uplifting videos with great content that went viral and proved to me that positivity is actually appealing and marketable to viewers. You can also see this illustrated on TV with shows like “The Ellen Show” and much of Oprah Winfrey’s work. They often focus on positive content and are killing it in ratings.
If this is the case, then why isn’t everyone in media spending just a little extra time searching for and sharing positive content that’s uplifting, promotes great values and makes the world a better & more positive place.
Why are we ok with much of our media outlets throwing us easily accessed, life sucking, negative content that desensitizes us and our children? Why are we ok with viewing content that promotes hatred, racism, and an unhealthy sexual appetite amongst many other things. We watch as people put races, sexes and all different types of people against one another and we stare as our society is taught to disrespect and demoralize people of all types. Do we speak up while companies put out ads promoting content that tempts people towards porn addiction, adultery and things that make it harder for those of us trying to keep our relationships healthy and focused on love? I find it funny that we end up electing an adult that just recently slandered his competitors. Many of us just sit there while the news pushes propaganda, tells us their one-sided view and focuses on the negative going on in the world. Whether you like it or not, whatever we are exposed to is going to impact us either for good or bad.
Why not expose ourselves to goodness? Imagine a world where we, our friends and our families could look to TV, Radio, Promotional Ads and Web Content to remind us to be humble, giving, loving, generous, honest and authentic. Imagine if all media made us, our children and those around us better after partaking in it. Imagine if everybody, no matter what their race, beliefs or where they come from, all helped each other and themselves by promoting positivity. Imagine if people were not focused on their differences or their anger, but focused on love, forgiveness and their commonalities. Imagine what a world that would be.
I’m not proposing that we all create and expose ourselves only to peppy, overly cheesy, inauthentic content. I’m just suggesting that we ask ourselves these few things:
– Is the content that I am creating (or allowing my children to create) going to impact the world positively and promote goodness in people, or is it going to encourage negativity, create separation and bring down the values of those who partake in it?
– Is the content that I and my kids are viewing, hearing or exposing ourselves to going to teach us something helpful, bring us joy or impact us in a positive manner or will it perpetuate hate, separation and promote negativity towards those who are around me or my children?
Maybe guys like Michael Jackson and The Beatles were trying to put out positive content and do these things when they wrote words like – “Heal the world, make it a better place”, “Come together” and “All you need is love.” Who knows, maybe even their success was in part due to those uplifting words. Either way, let’s create, share and expose ourselves to positive uplifting content that makes this world a better place.
Oh and by the way, before I finish this up, let me just share one more quick thing. Let us not judge one another for the content that is being put out. Let us focus on what we are doing and what we can control within ourselves. If others aren’t on the same page about putting out positive content, let us not judge, hate or plot against each other.
If you are curious, concerned or have a problem with what is being promoted or encouraged by another, then without bias ask that person about their content and why they are sharing it. You may just learn something or see something from different perspective. And just maybe, if we interact with those around us with good intent and in love, we can share and help them to see a perspective that they may have not seen or thought of before.
Though it may be beneficial to closely watch ourselves to ensure sure that we are putting out positive content, let us not look at others in the same way.