The news these days is often depressing at worst and frustrating at best. It’s easy to let it get us down. Never fear… The News Blender has you covered. Once a week we feature Something Good and, in return, all you have to do is tell us something good that has happened to you this week, something you are thankful for, a joke, a cute animal story, an inspiring tale of heroics, a Random Act of Kindness… SOMETHING good.
Today’s something good is pride.
I’m going to take a point of personal privilege today with this post. My daughter, Emily, has been helping organize a pride picnic that took place yesterday. Her friends founded the group last year with a little picnic and this year aimed much higher, with lots of venders, live music, rock and face painting, games and more. As she has never met an underdog that she didn’t need to defend, she ended up on the board this past year and was integral to the planning of the picnic.
She convinced her dad to go as security for the event and I attended as well, to help out wherever needed.
Everyone was on edge because protesters from a group with a pretty nasty history were expected to show up and had been making ugly comments on the Facebook page. However, for reasons unknown to everyone, not a single protester showed up the entire day. The group hired a police officer to provide security and they were concerned whether he would be truly supportive and helpful. But he had a great attitude and made them all feel very much at ease. Preble County is a very rural county so they had real concerns about safety, but the day went on with absolutely no problems at all.
Emily worked really hard helping with all the planning and I’m obviously very proud of her. But I also could easily see how this event, only the second of its kind ever in the county, meant a great deal to the lgbtq community in the surrounding area. One young man was talking to me and asked if the picnic was just a once a year thing. Representation matters and an event like this can make a great deal of difference.
Having an event that brings people together that came off safely and without a hitch is something good. Now it’s your turn… tell me something good!
