The Gift of Kindness

The news has always been filled with negative critiques and basically any story that can catch publicity. Lately, the news has been filled with stories about Michael Brown, Sydney Siege and other devastating events. Although these happenings are important and bring up many subjects, sometimes all we need on the news is a story which can bring a smile on our face, to brighten our day and the world while we go through this rough time.

On December 6, an Alabama woman was caught shoplifting eggs for her hungry family. They had not eaten for two days and were financially troubled. The women was short fifty cents and ended up stealing eggs due to desperation and need. When Officer Stacey was called in, he did not arrest the women but bought her a carton of eggs. Although shoplifting is a crime no one should commit, the officer understood the woman`s situation and left her handcuffed free. However, she did promise not to commit the crime again.

 From this heart-warming story, we can learn many lessons. First of all, it reveals the poverty and desperation not only this woman has but a majority of our population, including other guardians and even college graduate students. Either an immigrant or citizen, America needs to create more jobs for their own people or else future generations could see a bumpy road ahead of them. This story also shows that not all cops are bad and/or racist. Due to harsh actions taken by police in Ferguson and New York City, toward the black community specifically, people all over the country have been protesting about their actions and assume that most police officers are similar. Adding on, the police was white. The police officers who took actions which brought turmoil to the public were also white so there has been more anger on the white police officers. The woman who the police officer let go was actually black. This story proves that beliefs of racism and discrimination in the police force is false. Even though there are some officers who do not make the right decisions, does not mean every police does the sane. Every person is different, resulting to different mistakes and actions. Perhaps there are more individuals who do similar acts of kindness that never, but should, be publicized.

This is a kind of story that I would want to read on the news. The media should realize that not everything on the news has to be negative. They might think that they can get loads of cash for it, but a genuine story such as this one can do the same. Our generation must change the way the media is for the better.