GNN

I'm convinced people aren't any worse to each other today than they were 50 years ago. Watching the news, however, it sure seems that way. Someone should start a Good News Network to lift us from the gloom and doom, give us a more balanced perspective. Deepak Chopra as commentator?

And if a GNN did exist, I'd lead with a story like the one about the Afghan cabbie in Southern California yesterday who found $350,000 in diamonds left in the back seat of his cab. He found a cellphone bill in the bag and traced the owner, returning the jewels a few hours later. In a related story that wasn't reported on the AP, an American friend of mine unwittingly dropped a $100 bill in a carpet shop here in Kabul - half way down the block a kid ran up, panting, and gave it to her. She wasn't a regular customer in the shop; the dealers could have kept it and she would have been none the wiser.

Are Afghans more honest than most? I'm not ready to make that claim, but good stuff does happen here on a large and small scale, and sometimes it's nice to reflect on that rather than the bad guys with their car bombs.