Looking For Good News
The Elephant was looking for some good news. He had been reading bad news for several days and thought maybe it was time to see if he could find some good news just to balance everything out.
The Elephant picked up his phone and opened up his favorite app but couldn't find any good news there. So he opened another app, no good news there either. The Elephant tried every app he ever used but no matter what he tried or where he looked there was just no good news to be found.
“There must be something wrong,” the elephant thought. “How can there be no good news no matter where I look? Seems strange. Seems odd. Seems wrong.”
The elephant put his phone down and walked away. He looked out his kitchen window, it was a nice day outside. Sunny, warm, and just a little bit thick, a perfect late summer day.
Which is good. But it’s not really news.
“Maybe I can check with some friends if they have any good news?” The Elephant wondered, “Actually, that’s a great idea! Friends always have either good news or a good recipe idea or a boring anecdote. I’ll send a message to my group text and I hope no one answers with the third option... Meerkat definitely will though.”
The elephant typed out his message:
Hey gang, been feeling overwhelmed with all the bad news, has anyone heard any good news recently?
The replies began to come in instantly, which they rarely did:
Giraffe: Ugh no
Antelope: Dude if you find some plz share
Meerkat: Bought a shovel!
Elephant: Well, thanks for trying every one! Congratulations Meerkat!
Meerkat Emphasized Elephant's Message
The Elephant rolled his eyes. Meerkat is so boring. Great friend, love the guy, but God, always boring.
The Elephant was at a loss. He didn't know what to do. Every day he spent looking for good news and not finding it and not finding it and not finding it some more made the Elephant want to take his phone and sit on it, which would just be more bad news.
The Elephant was getting to the point where he now desperately needed some good news. It had been so many days since the Elephant had read or heard any good news he was beginning to worry that he no longer knew what good news looked like.
"Maybe instead of looking for good news, I should think about what is good and then make that news? Maybe looking for "good news" is too broad of a target so it's yielding low-quality results?"
This revelation took the Elephant by surprise. The Elephant was generally considered smart but sometimes even he surprised himself with how smart the things he came up with were.
The Elephant's phone dinged with another text message from his group chat:
Anteater: Sorry to inform you man, but I've been checking and there isn't really any good news anymore at all
Elephant: Really, there isn’t any good news? Anywhere?
Anteater: Nope, afraid not
"How could that be?" The Elephant thought, "I just had a breakthrough about Good and about News only moments ago."
The Elephant paused for a moment.
"Oh, wait, that is also good news. A breakthrough is always good news..."
Elephant: Well, it's a pretty nice day. I guess I didn't know it was going to be a nice day until I woke up this morning. If anyone here doesn't know it's a nice day today now you do, so that's good news, right?
Three dots appeared and vanished and appeared and vanished. The Elephant wasn't sure his breakthrough really landed. Maybe he wasn't so smart after all. Even the Meerkat didn't respond and he at least responds "LMAO" to everything. Then --
Meerkat: Oh, I get it
Three dots appeared. The Elephant braced himself for what he assumed would add insult to injury when the Meerkat would add some boring anecdote on top of his one lame breakthrough which didn't seem to land. (The Elephant liked the Meerkat, they were friends, but wow, could the Meerkat not, NOT, be boring).
Meerkat: BREAKING NEWS: I got a new shovel!
Meerkat: Am I doing it right?
The Elephant, The Anteater, The Antelope, and The Giraffe Liked the Meerkat's message
