I think the good folks are winning. Seriously, I do. Let me explain.

I know how hard it seems to feel like good is going to triumph over evil. Watching the network news or listening to the radio news gives us helping after helping of negativity. Stories of people behaving badly, doing wrong, and generally being awful. Once in a while we’ll get the “pick me up story”, but those are usually outweighed 5, 8, or 10 to 1 against the negative stories.

Pick up a newspaper and it’s mostly about who did what nasty thing to somebody else, whether it’s one individual acting against another, one group hurting another, or one nation disrespecting another.

After a while, it’s easy to believe that the world is an awful place and there isn’t anything that can be done about it. I know I’ve often fallen into the trap that my single, solitary voice can’t do anything.

But every time I think that way, I’m wrong. 100% WRONG!

The start of November began a trend that actually astounded me. I had made the decision on my Hectic Dad facebook page (yeah, you should LIKE it at https://www.facebook.com/hecticdad) I had made the decision to post my 30 Days of Thanks this November. I had the idea in the middle of October, and I started creating the editorial calendar and writing my notes of thanks. I even scheduled the first seven into HootSuite.

Then a funny thing happened…November actually started. All of the sudden I was invited into several groups and events on Facebook to share what I was thankful for. I joined several. Then I got more invitations. Then I started seeing people posting stati about what they were thankful for. This morning, people were posting a couple of days worth and apologizing for being behind.

The comments about what people are thankful for are amazing. Grandparents thankful for grandkids. Parents thankful for parents and kids. Thanks for the love of a neighbor, the kindness of a stranger, the smell of Fall, pizza delivery, even a note of thanks for dirt roads that make you slow down so you don’t miss the surrounding countryside.

There have been notes of thanks for things that I’ve cursed. Dirt roads for one…who wants to slow down. Mosquitoes…seriously, I saw somebody who was thankful for mosquitoes. Why, because they remind her that even the smallest thing makes a huge difference when persistent enough. Moldy strawberries are probably next…you know, as a reminder not to eat too much. I don’t really know what I’m going to see over the remainder of the month, but honestly I’m really looking forward to it.

Now the trend is moving to the other social media platforms.

And all this thankfulness and gratefulness matters because it just goes to show that we all have vastly more to be thankful for than to complain about. Yeah, I know that we’re going to keep complaining, but it’s really made me think. If each of us posted 30 things we’re thankful for this November, imagine how much positive energy that will create. Envision what a difference we could make if we didn’t just do that for 30 days?

I’m a huge Christmas fan. I love how the holiday spirit makes things better. People can be pushy and nasty at the stores, but there is always that one person who holds a door when they didn’t have to, helps a lost child, or just performs some random act of kindness. For years the Christmas Spirit has risen up and embraced us through the month of December. Over the years, we’ve also been on our best behavior in January. Those New Year’s resolutions often include things like “be nice to people”, “don’t be mean”, and “smile”. Sure, there’s all the get healthy and lose weight and save money stuff, but there are lots of people who also have positive, character-enhancing goals.

Now we’re seeing that creep into November. Publicly expressing what they’re thankful for is really cool. To see so many people seizing this opportunity to use Social Media for good is really energizing to me.

When I created the challenge for myself, I figured I could come up with 30 things without a lot of work. I was right, in less than an hour I had my calendar full. Then I decided to keep going. Now I’m toying with the idea of 365 days of thanks. I’ve already got 128 things, big and small, that I’m thankful for. I think I’m ready to commit to spreading a little bit of positive energy throughout the year.

How about you, what are you thankful for? Could you express one thing EVERY DAY for a year that you’re thankful for? Wanna give it a shot?

We can make the world a better place just like a swarm of mosquitoes…one grateful item at a time!