Since this week was Christmas, I wanted to focus on a message we can think about for the upcoming year. First, I wanted to tell you about a very special young man. Michael Patterson is a member of my church congregation. He is friends with my children and when I opened the paper last Thursday, I found a wonderful story about him. As the story went, he normally drives his motorcycle to Robertsdale High School but on this particular morning (Monday, Dec. 17) he felt impressed to take the bus. He didn’t know why but did it anyway. As it turned out, on the way home on the bus, one of the children, 7-year-old Chad Hostinick, was choking on a butterscotch hard candy and Michael helped him remove it. He saved Chad’s life. What an incredible feat for a 15-year old teenager. He kept his head and acted quickly without panic using a technique he had learned at a ROTC first aid training class. Chad Hostinick’s parents were ever so thankful.

You don’t hear much about heroes in the news anymore. Is it because people aren’t helping other people as much or is it because the media sees gloom and doom as a better sell for business? It’s hard to say, but it might be a little bit of both.

It might be that some people might feel that they are just one person so what could they do to help others? But that shouldn’t matter. Out of small and simple things, great things come to pass. Michael was only one person and he made a big difference in Chad Hostinick’s life. I think maybe other people are so busy and distracted living their own lives, they might not be thinking about what they can do to help others.

As far as the media goes, we are so overloaded with all crime of the world; it’s almost as if we are glorifying the works of the criminals by repeating it on television, in newspapers and movies. The more we hear about it, the more it’s talked about and the more it’s talked about the more people think about it. The more we think about it, the more it is done. I think it would do us all some good if we heard more about the good in people instead of the bad. Not only for this time of the year but always. The more we hear about what good people do the more we talk about it. The more we talk about it, the more we think about it and the more it is done. I know there still are others around us who do plenty of good, we just don’t hear about it all the time. We need to hear more about heroes. We need to hear more about what good people have done in our world. Just like Michael, who was concerned about Chad’s life, we need to be concerned with others around us. It would spread a lot more good in the world and would make our world a better place to live. Merry Christmas.

Loxley resident Valerie J. Steimle is the author of two books, “Home Is Where The Heart Is, A look at strengthening the American Family,” and her latest book, “Home Is Where The Learning Is” (www.amazon.com/gp/product/1403379637). Contact her at valeriesteimle@yahoo.com or visit her website at www.stengthenyourhome.com.