Voices around town

Why is positive news important to you?

The Portland Upside
February 2010

With such a steady diet of bad news, positive news is like dessert. You don’t get it all the time, but when you do it’s appreciated.

–Jacki Kane
Hawthorne neighborhood
SE Portland, Oregon

Negativity is fear-based; positivity breeds courage, heroism, and eventually fearlessness.

–Christopher Kai Bucci
Montavilla neighborhood
SE Portland, Oregon

What we hear and read matters, giving us a sense of the way the world is. If we hear nothing but crisis, violence, greed or intolerance, we might believe that represents all we have around us. Positive news—which is much more prevalent—must be shared to offer us insight into the truth of what we are surrounded by—willingness, optimism, hope and generosity.

–Amy Pearl
SW Portland, Oregon

Positive news is better than Prozac. Not only does it serve to inspire, it also helps us to overcome our inertia, our fears, our separation anxieties and loneliness. It gives us avenues to turn our disparate mental and physical silos into community.

–Meryl Lipman
NE Portland, Oregon

Positive news is crucial for maintaining a balanced perspective. In order to be productive citizens we have to know that our own random acts of kindness make a difference in the world. Hearing upbeat stories about our neighbors reminds us that a positive attitude has a large ripple effect.

–Carrie Ure
SW Portland, Oregon

I believe that human beings are moved to act when they feel connected, inspired and hopeful. What better way is there to support social activism than by highlighting the people and organizations in our community and beyond that are devoting their lives to positive social change?

–Deb Delman
NE Portland, Oregon

It’s important because it opens the door and reminds us that there is positive news going on. There has to be as much positive as negative happening in the world. Dark and light balance out eventually and if we only see the dark, we are missing part of the picture.

–Deanne Belinoff
Concordia neighborhood
NE Portland Oregon