Whenever one takes in hand to comment on current news, as I do here, there arises inevitably the unpleasant and troublesome task of often commending on "bad news" and bad things done by people, even if they are not themselves necessarily bad.

Monday, February 12, 2001

Whenever one takes in hand to comment on current news, as I do here, there arises inevitably the unpleasant and troublesome task of often commending on "bad news" and bad things done by people, even if they are not themselves necessarily bad. Like it or not (and I do not), "news" is defined as "that which is new (or different)," and it is the bad things done by people that more often than not get reported. Therefore, negative criticism is forced on news commentators in direct proportion to negative actions being in the news and in sad disproportion to what we would rather comment on and what would be more constructive to read.

I have for long been convinced that criticizing people positively, when we can do so honestly, is infinitely more productive than criticizing them negatively even when necessary. I seek to exercise this principle in personal relationships, and I work against the odds to do it in public journalism.

Concerned as I am that these very columns are as positive and constructive as news events allow, I surveyed those published during the year 2000. I delimited examination to those that commented on individuals, as over against groups, issues, or movements. I find that five that are largely negative in content. That is, I felt something these individuals had recently done and that was reported in public news media required comment. The facts, and my opinion about the facts, led to a negative assessment.

Against all the negative actions being reported in the news, this is not very many. I let a lot of things go without comment. On the other hand, eleven were strongly positive of individuals. This is not because positive examples are necessarily common, but because I sought them out. The number pleases me in retrospect, even as I recall the joy with which I wrote them. This means, statistically, that 22 percent of all columns last year was negative criticism of individuals and that 82 percent of individual criticism was positive. Four times as many.

On March 5, I wrote "Tim Penny chose well: family over Senate." The lesson I drew from former Congressman Penny’s decision not to run for the U.S. Senate was: "We need in all public offices people who are first whole persons and effective parents."

The following month, State Supreme Court Justice Page came to my attention when it was reported he to went to bat for all citizens who receive invalid parking tickets. The April 17 heading was "Alan Page is my kind of hero." About him I wrote: "Justice Alan C. Page demonstrates dramatically what a pro athlete can do to serve society in a constructive manner as well as serving cool justice with a warm heart for human beings entangled by law."

I found an opportunity on July 24 to come to the defense of Hillary Clinton when I felt her background was unfairly criticized, i.e., "Hillary Clinton’s family background does not embarrass." I commented: "If Hillary Rodham Clinton has emerged from an impoverished and dysfunctional background to become the intelligent, skillful, and successful woman no one can deny she is, rather than her background disgracing her she deserves all the more respect."

"Billy Graham as Rochester neighbor" was the heading for the July 31 column during one of his stays at the Mayo Clinic. I wrote: "Evangelist Billy Graham stands in sharp contrast to the usual self-promoting celebrity and demonstrates he is as concerned for the souls of people in person as he is on the platform before thousands."

When Al Gore chose Sen. Joseph Lieberman as his running mate, I wrote on August 14: "Joseph Lieberman is a good and decent man. Sometimes that is silently qualified with ‘despite all the bad and indecent things he has done.’ Not so Lieberman, who is consistently so."

Grief struck my heart when a state trooper with whom I had contact was killed by a truck driver. He was, I wrote on Sept. 11, "Not Just Another State Trooper." I explained: "Ted Foss was a state trooper who enforced the law not narrowly and technically, but broadly and professionally by concerning himself with the total context of the law and public responsibility."

I didn’t feel I could take the liberty of naming an eighth grade girl who let me celebrate "Braces are beautiful" on Oct. 16. I wrote: "She understands what so many of her peers do not. The beauty of personality shines brighter than any dulling defect or, what is yet more common, self-perceived defect that becomes a defect if accepted." Her mother wrote to me: "She got a lot of mileage out of it (especially with her 17-year-old sister). She walked around with an even bigger smile than usual and an extra bounce to her step."

Her mother agreed with the column that hers "is a very crucial/impressionable age where certain comments are traumatic." That age, she wrote, "can’t be complimented enough and those are words that will echo in her mind from time to time." She concluded: "So from a mother’s heart – thank you for sharing your words and making [her] a part of your column!"

That’s the sort of think I most enjoy accomplishing with these columns and do so whenever possible. If this were not sufficient, orthodontists have asked permission to make reprints available to their patients.

The next week, Oct. 23, I commented on the delivery of death notices to sailors killed on the U.S.S. Cole and, from my experience as an army chaplain, called it "A Terrible but Worthwhile Ministry." I narrated some of my experiences and focused on one mother’s reaction. I wrote: "In great tribute to those families and the American spirit, I report that every one at least eventually not only accepted our ministry but expressed or demonstrated deep gratitude for it. Rather than pushing us out as the bearers of bad news, they came to embrace us as intimate friends. They sensed we were in this together."

The final positive criticism was of a woman long dead, my eighth-grade teacher. On Dec. 4, I wrote: "A great teacher not only believes in her students but convinces her students to believe in themselves."

This column has run a good deal longer than usual, because in just one year there was so much positive criticism I am pleased to report. I mean for it to be positive re-enforcement of good deeds others have done and an encouragement to all readers to, as Jesus applied the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10), "go, and do thou likewise (KJV)."

Wallace Alcorn’s column appears Mondays