We are told that the news reports, be they the hourly radio news bulletin, the nightly television news hour or the newspaper reports are simply reflecting the realities of our daily lives.

Well we reckon otherwise. All the stories about violence on the streets and carnage on the roads and conflicts between warring factions in the Middle East and horrible goings on with the ‘rich and famous’ and slanging across the floor of parliament are not accurate reflections of how we behave in our households and thousands of other households across Australia and the world.

We say that this is not how we live and we choose to not be distracted by all the horrible goings on that fill the 24 hour news cycle. We are not turning a blind eye to these issues, we are simply saying that there is much more to life than this race to reinforce the lowest common denominator.  Affirming the good and positive aspects of the human spirit is much more deserving of our time and mental energy.

A bloke who is working to make the world a better place is Matt Wicking (Musician Matt Wicking is using his education to foster progressive and ‘important conversations’ , Good Weekend magazine, SMH , April 15 2017). Reporter Konrad Marshall tells readers that Matt is a musician with a mission to communicate in a way that crosses boundaries of ethnicity, beliefs and political allegiance, the young and not so young – anyone who seeks to dig a little deeper into the meaning of life.

Matt Wicking is looking for the common ground and having great success, if the Future Makers Fellowship is any guide.  When ideas hit fertile ground you never know where they might lead and today we acknowledge other ways of being: Joining the Dots and The Welcome Dinner Project; The Weekly Service and others.   To find out more visit:  http://www.csl.org.au/programs/fellowship-program/ ; https://www.joiningthedots.org/ ; https://www.joiningthedots.org/the-welcome-dinner-project ; http://www.theweeklyservice.org/ .  And for more ideas from around the world visit:  http://futuresfoundation.org.au/    Take heart. Be inspired.