By Emily Stonehouse

I was curious about what would fill our papers during the cracks between news stories.

There are no elections, council meetings have been fairly status quo, local schools are in the preliminary stages of gearing up for a busy end of year bustle.

For the most part, we’re in a community lull. The calm after the storm. Or before. Whichever way you look at it.

But suddenly, all the stories that have fallen into the shadows during the fluorescent light of elections have inched their way back to the main stage. And as I dove into the list for the week, I assumed the pace of the week would be slowed.

I was wrong. Each and every day slowly but surely filled up with events, experiences, and excitement.

This was a good news week. I had interviews about successful fundraisers, new art showcases, and happy businesses. The one story that got my gears grinding was tackling Bill 5 and Doug Ford’s objective to wipe out endangered species habitats.

But even that one came with a silver lining; the story was put on my plate by people who wanted to challenge Ford. People who see the good in protecting our world, in recognizing the interconnectedness of our ecosystems. People who want to make a difference not just for themselves, but right down to the teeny tiny organisms squirming around in our wetlands; each piece of the puzzle given equal care.

There is good in the world. Good people. Good stories. Good news.

And lately, I’ve seen so many people question how we got to this point. This place of hate and polarization and anger. It’s easy to point fingers. To nudge our friends to the south, to pinpoint the whir of social media, to gesture to the pace of the world that we find ourselves tripping over.

But playing the blame game just keeps us in this cycle.

Every so often, we need a good news week. A palette cleanser.

I worry that many equate good news to boring news. Stories without grip and guts lack gusto and glory. I myself assumed that without politically charged news, the week would present itself with an unwavering ease.

But these good news stories – the ones of human connections and caring and contributions to the vibrancy of the place we call home – those are the blood that courses through our veins.

On a sunny Tuesday afternoon, I walked through the village of Haliburton. I saw locals setting up the route for the newly released downtown Sculpture Forest tour, adding vibrancy to our community core. I went into a cafe, where I knew every single face, and exchanged laughs and pleasantries with each one. I drank hot tea with volunteers who were over the moon about their most recent fundraising initiatives. Their efforts to give back. They were thrilled because they had earned so much, not for their own benefit, but for others, strangers, who may be in need.

This was all within an hour, on that sunny Tuesday afternoon.

There is good in the world. Good people. Good stories. Good news.

And sometimes, we all need to be reminded of that.