Somewhere in America...

Somewhere in America a husband came home from work on time, played with his kids, thanked his wife for a great dinner, and read a bedtime story to his youngest before tucking them in and saying prayers.

Somewhere in America a couple reconciled their differences, recommitted to their marriage, and avoided a divorce that would have torn their family apart and robbed their children of the advantages of having both parents home.

Here's the real surprising news flash; somewhere in America an 11-year old boy collected his dirty clothes and carried them to the laundry room without being reminded.

What started all this? A December 23 Detroit Free Press story about a janitor that found a purse in the airport and returned it to a passenger before she departed for Asia. Why was such a thing reported at all? The purse had $10,000 in it. It's amazing that not committing a crime is newsworthy. When my son was perhaps eight-years old he found a $10 bill outside a friend's house. That's a lot of money for a third grader. He was hoping to keep it but I suggested if he'd lost $10 he'd want whomever found it to attempt to reunite him with his small fortune. The $10, it turns out, belonged to his friend's older sister. No small potatoes to her, either. This little episode has newsworthy written all over it, and here are some of the angles:

• a young boy told his father he found money
• a young boy was actually spending time with his father
• a father listened to his son
  
• a father taught his son an important lesson
• a son listened to his father
• a young babysitter learned how pockets, wallets, and purses are used.

Of course, the local media wasn't alerted so the public missed a chance to celebrate his heroism. Regardless, my son often makes me proud so a single event isn't newsworthy, but by the Free Press' standards not stealing makes the weekend paper. Everywhere in America people are doing the right thing -- and not because the law requires it, but because good people do good things.