Amidst the current struggles and harrowing nature of the coronavirus crisis, is this an unprecedented time when we are actively seeking out the good in the world?

In recent weeks, a string of encouraging news stories and acts of kindness have surfaced across multiple news outlets. A noteworthy example of these includes the story of a scrap metal dealer in Suffolk who found £16,000 in an abandoned safe and donated the whole sum to 2 local hospices. Also extremely uplifting is the news of a Chinese billionaire donating millions of masks and testing kits to help protect African countries from COVID-19, as well as a recent scientific report revealing that, thanks to conservation efforts, our oceans’ ecosystems and marine populations could be fully restored within 30 years.  

It appears that the more that the coronavirus crisis continues to snowball, the more we seem to be latching onto the positive things happening in the world.

The more that the coronavirus crisis continues to snowball, the more we seem to be latching onto the positive things happening in the world

Obviously this makes sense- these are difficult times so naturally we look for glimmers of hope and things to look forward to. However, is this small wave of positivity noticeable because we are usually so conditioned to expect discouraging news stories? In other words, does this crisis expose the usual domination of negativity over newsreels?

If we look at a standard news broadcast on a ‘normal’ day, the selection of stories tend to often focus on the bad things happening in the world, namely tax evasions; Brexit failings; climate change disasters; athletes breaking rules and crimes being committed. Of course these are all extremely important happenings that definitely should be shared with the public, however all too often it can feel like following current affairs first and foremost just wears you down. In fact often after watching or reading the news it is hard to shake the feeling that nothing good is happening in the world and that the world is full of bad people. 

This is probably why it feels so refreshing to see all this positivity and the acts of kindness popping up over social media – if you are able to momentarily switch off from the alarming coronavirus updates of course. Perhaps the attention such stories are receiving is helping to disprove the idea that distressing news stories are the only ones that sell.

This poses the question of whether change is on the horizon for the years to come: will this period of difficulty and conceivably low spirits prompt us to seek more encouraging news stories in the future?

Will this period of difficulty…prompt us to seek more encouraging news stories in the future?

Or is our search for positivity merely situational and will we return to ‘normal’ afterwards? The former would be an extremely beneficial outcome to come from this awful crisis in my opinion. A widened spotlight on the good things happening in our world would if nothing else surely help to remind us that amidst harsh realities there are still plenty of reasons to be optimistic. Either way, let’s just continue to enjoy this wave of uplifting news stories and hope they continue for as long as possible.