Another devastating earthquake. It kind of makes you wonder, what is this world coming to? Is something, somebody trying to tell us something? And that, I think, makes it all the more important to focus on the good that is out there. There is kindness in people all around us, all over the world.

I know some people don’t want to see it. It’s as if they close their eyes to it. Yet others expect it; know it still exists, and goodness finds them. Take for instance a friend of mine; she is young and single and a romantic. She says she hears all the time from other friends how chivalry is dead. Yes chivalry. You know… courteous behavior, especially that of men towards women. Now this friend relayed that she didn’t believe it and at the time of our chat she was witnessing chivalrous acts all around her. Men opening doors for her, pulling out chairs for the woman they were with, deeds of that nature. I shared with her I had once too participated in the belief that chivalry was dead. After all how could it be alive when I would witness no one opening a door for a woman pushing a stroller, and we all can imagine that opening a door while pushing a stroller is no easy task.

I had the luck, I told her, of meeting my husband and now have proof that chivalry is still alive. On our second date he opened the car door for me. This was — sad to say — an unusual experience for me. I commented on it and he said, “I will always open your door.” I joked and asked, “How about when we have kids to get in the car?” To which this knight-in-shining-armor replied, “They’ll just have to wait.” Now of course once you have two toddlers to get in the car, you realize this is surely not realistic. But yes, after getting the kids in, he does still open my car door for me.

So there is still kindness, or chivalry, in the world. We just have to keep our eyes open and perhaps more importantly expect and believe. I offer you a kind smile to set you off on the rest of your day — and some good news…

• How about this for chivalrous (and observant)?
A 14-year old boy noticed a two-year-old in a potentially dangerous place and caught the toddler as he fell from a second story window.
http://happynews.com/news/252010/teen-catches-falling-year-old.htm

• Did you ever think tobacco could be good?
Scientists from the University of California Berkeley are finding the world may be weaned from fossil fuels by tapping tobacco plants to grow solar cells.
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35062357/

• Stay warm and save money?
A perfect insulator, or a material that reflects heat while absorbing none of it, has been created by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Sandia National Laboratories. This insulator is being touted to possibly eliminating your heating bill.
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35605867/

• Speaking about keeping warm, brrrr…..
Volunteers brave the cold and snow to transport doctors and nurses to hospitals in Washington D.C.
www.cnn.com/2010/US/

• Helping out the games
When many corporate giants pulled back due to the economic meltdown, there were many other “little guys” who hung in with training help and endorsement deals for the U.S. Olympic athletes.
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35221302/

• An Austrian millionaire gives away his fortune
This millionaire says his fortune made him miserable so he sold his belongings and donated the funds to charities he supports in South America which offers small loans to Latin America and builds development aid strategies to self-employed people.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/austria

• A good reminder for parents to teach kids about emergency situations
A lesson on calling 911 came in handy just days later for the 3-year-old in New Jersey who called emergency officials when his grandmother had a seizure.
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35124368/

• This may not be new news, but it’s good news none the less…
There is a loving father who has gone back to college — for and with his son. His son was born disabled but learned to play music, the piano, the trumpet. The student is blind and has a rare disorder which will not allow him to stretch his limbs, but he plays in the marching band while his dad pushes him in his wheelchair, keeping him in band formation.
http://louisville.edu/music/ensembles/instrumental/red-rage-marching-band.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IohdtoLjoU0 http://youtube.com/watch?v=mmXWVGR0zpk

• And one last one just for a smile… Hospital gowns
The British government asked designers and manufacturers to come up with a new look for hospital gowns in hopes to replace the traditional drafty open-backed gowns which leave patients feeling (really just feeling??) exposed.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8505625.stm