I believe there is still good left in this world

When I look at a newspaper’s headline or when I turn on the news, all I see is, terrorism, global warming, the battle in Darfur, the Iraq War, it’s all the same, all bad things that people hear about every day. Yet, people do do good everyday despite the bad happening around them. That is why I believe there is still good left in this world.

I recently discovered this belief first hand, when I had my first big city experience in Chicago. I was ready for the lights, the people, the shopping. What I found instead were people on the streets begging for food, only to have well off people, simply pass them by. I, too, walked by them, trying to act as if I didn’t know that they were there on the sidewalk. The sickness that flowed through my body, each time I passed them, stayed with me for my entire trip. That is, until I realized that I possessed the ability to do some good in this world. One night after a great meal at Gino’s East Pizzeria, I was walking back to the Westin Hotel with my family, when I noticed a man sitting on the corner of the street. He was wearing dirty pants, a wrinkled, messy shirt, and gloves with holes in them. He also looked very cold and tired. He was asking all the people who walked by for food, each person looking away, when I realized I happened to be holding two huge pieces of cheese pizza. I stood a few feet behind him for a moment thinking about this man. Then I realized what I needed to do. I walked up to him and handed him my pizza, saying, “I hope you like cheese.” He answered, “yes, deary, yes I do.” When I looked back to say good bye, the man was already gone, he ran away with the treasure I gave him.

When I got to my room, a feeling of warmth, comfort and happiness washed over me like a wave in the ocean. I was engulfed in this incredible feeling of knowing I had done something good, a rare occasion in my life.

This man taught me that even the smallest deeds bring goodness to this world. This man lead me to give money to each homeless person I saw on the street everyday in Chicago.

That experience showed me that not everything and everyone in this world is bad. Every day, people all over the world help people out in ways that go unnoticed and unacknowledged. The people that go unnoticed, the people who do good things for no reason, the people who HELP, are the people that should be thanked everyday for keeping the world spinning. I want to be this kind of person, and thanks to that man, he taught me that I could do good too. These people and I make sure there is still good left in this world, this I believe.