Goodwill alive in America
Last week I returned from hiking in Colorado, ready to wade back into presidential campaign politics, with a column on Barack Obama’s ‘Pastor Disaster.’
Instead, serendipity and epiphany combined to convince me to write on something drastically different: one remarkable woman and two remarkable men. Serendipity ‘ ‘the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way’ ‘ came Thursday evening during ‘Viewpoints,’ the WCPI radio show I co-host with Bill Zechman.
Following our litany of bad news, political, economic and otherwise, state Sen. Steve Roller mentioned he would be presenting a proclamation honoring the late Miss Ione Youngblood later that night at Magness Library. That led to a spontaneous outpouring of accolades for Miss Youngblood’s many years of teaching excellence and service to her community. Each of us shared our fond memories of how this remarkable woman had touched our lives in ways everlasting.
This transition from bad news to good news caused me to change my plans and attend the event honoring Miss Youngblood at the library. I’m glad I did. In addition to reading the proclamation honoring Miss Youngblood for her teaching excellence, community service and generosity, Sen. Roller reminisced on his own lasting impressions of Miss Youngblood as a warm, wonderful person and teacher.
Following Sen. Roller’s presentation, several former students, including Pat Bigbee, Cynthia Campen, Jimmy Haley, and Rachel Killebrew, gave moving eulogies to Miss Youngblood. Long after the words of praise we raised in her honor have faded, the legacy of Miss Youngblood’s contributions to her profession and to her community will remain, ringing out through the years to touch even more lives in a positive way.
The two remarkable men I met that evening were father and son, Scott and Pat Price, authors of the incredibly inspirational ‘Looking for Goodwill,’ a book that documents their ‘nationwide odyssey in search of goodwill.’ They interviewed people in all 50 states, selecting them at random and asking them about ‘the good things in their lives.’
What they found in everyone ‘ ‘whether a florist in Georgia, a pirate’s descendant in Alaska, a carriage driver in New York, or a Bosnian immigrant in North Dakota’ ‘ was a treasure trove of ‘friendliness, trust, optimism, and an inherent desire to encourage others.’
As the Prices talked about their 11-month journey into everyday America, they exemplified the very essence of the goodwill they were looking for in others. For example, they left a $10 bill with each person they interviewed, asking only that they use it to spread goodwill. From Pat’s heartfelt readings of letters from those they had met on their journey, to Scott’s stirring stories of the ‘fascinating, good-hearted people’ they met everywhere on their trip, they brought to life the heart and soul of America beyond the glare of the media.
Epiphany ‘ my ‘moment of sudden and great revelation’ came as I reflected on Miss Youngblood and the Prices. One remarkable woman and two remarkable men, whose lives of goodwill and good news mitigate the bad news with which we’re saturated 24/7.
Retired Army Col. Thomas B. Vaughn can be reached at [email protected].