A positive New Year

Well, the election is over, and we're on our way to a New Year.  Luckily, we must have misinterpreted the Mayen calendar, 'cause we're all still here.  I'm still going to be pushing for encouraging people to think for themselves, and check their facts, but I want to share what seem to me to be some really positive things coming into 2013.  People seem to be starting to move away from self-centeredness, and more towards other-centeredness.  I heard about a couple who had lost a young child to cancer.  His father was with him when he died and posted his last words on a social networking site.  Shortly thereafter, someone in a fast food restaurant paid for his meal, and said that he did it in memory of the child who had died.  Almost immediately people all over the world started performing random acts of kindness to others - some in memory of the child, but many others just to do something for a stranger a la the movie "Pay it Forward".  For this of you who didn't see it, a child did something nice for a stranger "just because" and that person turned around and did something nice for someone else.  Soon these random acts had spread out all over the city.  It seems that every time someone performed one of these random acts of kindness to someone else, that person would turn around and do something for someone else, and the generosity and the giving spreads further and further.  It can be something as simple as looking directly at people you meet on the street or in the mall, smiling at them and saying "Hello".  It's so much fun to see the surprise on their face and see them smile.
And on a broader level, it looks like we may see some changes in the way our government operates.  Our rescue from the fiscal cliff included reducing tax breaks for the super rich - a position supported by over two thirds of us.  Representatives coming in to the new Congress say that they intend to be more responsive to the voice of the common citizens instead of special interest groups, and focusing on resolving those issues.  It's interesting that 1/5 of our Senators are now women who are intent on achieving consensus rather than confrontation as the way to deal with issues.  And if they achieve that consensus based on what their constituents want, we will be well on our way to returning to a more representative form of government.  
These both seem to be positive indications of a new movement toward concern for others rather than always looking out for number one.  It indicates an intention to move forward in ways that benefit each of us individually rather than special interest groups representing the benefit of only a few.