"A nice thought to hold onto as voters go to the polls"

Can we please talk about something nice today?

Pretty please?

Why? Well, it's Election Day. Has anybody ever seen a nastier campaign? Can you believe they think we're stupid enough, greedy enough, cowardly enough, or mean enough, to be swayed by that stuff?

Me neither. And, frankly, I'm sick of it. It's not likely to end tonight, either.

So before we vote, let us spend just a few minutes pondering the best that people can be instead of the way too many are. Perhaps some politician might see this and be moved to go out and do likewise?

Hey, hope springs eternal.

Consider the children at Morgan Middle School. Those kids, on their own, raised $3,401.38 for the Northern Utah Red Cross appeal for hurricane relief in Florida. Theirs is the single largest check the Northern Utah chapter received, too. Isn't that nice?

So, way to go, Morgan Middle School students! When you grow up to be president, please stay nice.

And how about that Ogden Rotary Club? Those guys gave dictionaries to every third-grader in the Ogden School District, using funds the Rotarians raised or begged themselves.

This is the second year they've done that. Nobody made them. They just did it so children can grow up knowing how to talk. Too bad they weren't around when little Georgie W. was in school, eh?

Or take the Red Lobster in Layton. This was very neat.

The ManorCare center in South Ogden has a patient, Karen Stack, who said her favorite meal in the whole world is seafood. She is very ill and can't get out herself, so last week Kelly Dysert, the activities director, used the facility's "Heart's Desire" program, a kind of "Make A Wish" deal, to see what she could do.

She hired a limousine and called Red Lobster in Layton, "and the manager there said, 'Absolutely, I'll take care of you.' "

Boy, did she. Mardy Altman, general manager of the Layton Red Lobster, said her staff was just thrilled to pieces at the chance to help someone.

"When she got here, I just had all my chiefs and waiters lined up here at the door, and we got her a bouquet of flowers and we just had a great little luncheon for her. She was just a sweetheart," she said.

Altman, you need to know, isn't just anybody.

In addition to managing a restaurant, she is pregnant. As if that weren't enough, her husband phones her from Iraq to talk about the mortar rounds landing near the phone booth. So she's got a few things on her mind.

But she took the time, and care, to take care of an old sick woman and the people from Manor Care. When it was done, she tore up the tab, too. She even fed the limo driver, Cory Calvin, Arrow Transportation, who wouldn't let anyone pay for his services, either.

We are told that Ms. Stack, a week later, is still telling everyone about the really wonderful time she had.

See? People can be nice. They want to be. They are.

Remember that as you go off to vote today. Hold on to that thought as you watch the fighting over the returns tonight. Say it over and over: There are nice people. They do nice things.

This may keep you sane as you watch our fearless leaders make fools of themselves.


- Charles Trentelman, Standard Examiner




Just something I found amusing...

I love it. Better words couldn't be said.

Those kids in Utah could set a great example for those fatcats in Washington. If average people, middle schoolers for that matter, can pull together and do something to help out their fellow sentient beings, maybe there's hope for politicians as well.

Yes. Hopefully there's hope for those hopeless politicians.

Yes indeedy.

What's really ironic is that George Washington warned the country against party-dominated partisan politics on his deathbed. I think it was the muckraking and whatnot he was warning us about.

Yep, I'm thinking along the same lines. But of course, history's so often repeated because history's warnings are so often ignored.

Yup.