Even in dark times, there is good in humanity

After a decade in the news business, primarily writing hard news stories, I’ve seen, written about, and heard a lot of negative stories.
No complaints, I love what I do. But sometimes it can be hard to see the good in humanity, especially intoday’s polarizing climate. Then, the other day, I saw the good in humanity right in front of me.
I work from home (or on occasion at coffee shops like I am as I write this column) and I am on the phone all the time with sources.
Oftentimes, I find myself pacing when I’m on the phone, going from room to room, in my home, and more than often or not, I find myself talking on the phone in my backyard, or my front porch.
It was a particularly cold and windy day last week, and I was on the phone with a source about a story, and suddenly I looked up and saw a bunch of papers and other things flying out of an overturned recycling bin.
I realized the papers were from a neighbor a few houses down, and luckily for them, the papers were mostly blank.
I was on the phone for a couple of minutes and suddenly I saw some people from my neighborhood helping to pick them up, as they were on a walk.
My neighbor across the street was also out helping, and like any good Minnesota (transplant) the peer pressure got to me, so I obliged and helped.
I ran across the street as the papers were flying still and picked up whatever papers I could find.
We bought our house in the summer of 2023, and I have absolutely no clue what the neighbor’s names are, and we don’t speak the same language. But it absolutely doesn’t matter, they are my neighbors, and they needed help, so I helped.
My wife and I have been blessed with wonderful neighbors who are always willing to chip in.
My next-door neighbor is an immigrant from Honduras, speaks very little English and the only Spanish I speak is through Google Translate. But we help each other out. He owns a landscaping business and helps with mowing our lawn (we still are in the process of buying a shed) and about one to two times a week we try to make sure we make extra food for him. It’s a beautiful friendship we have formed with him.
Recently we had to rebuild our porch (a story for a different day) and myself, and a good friend of mine were outside a month or so ago, working diligently to take the boards off.
Then my neighbor on the other side of us, came over, lent a hand, and in record time the boards were taken off. As embarrassing as it is to say, I still don’t even know his name. But it doesn’t matter, and it doesn’t matter we don’t speak the same language, because neighbors look out for neighbors.
As we head into the holiday season, I hope everyone takes a second, to look around, and identify the good in humanity from time to time, and when a neighbor is in need do what you can to help out, trust me, it’s worth it.