If someone were to ask you right now whether there’s more good or more bad in the world, what would you say?

I could see where you might jump to the easy answer: more bad, for sure. I don’t blame you. I have struggled to see the good in the world lately, too.

In our country and around the world we engage in toxic, hateful politics (from every single side,) we attack each other with both words and weapons, and every single day the news is filled to the brim with more tragic storylines and public displays of animosity. There’s no arguments here that there is, indeed, a lot of bad stuff in this world.

But to say there’s more bad than good? I refuse to believe it.

What I believe is that we don’t always see the good because we don’t even consider looking for it. We focus on the arguments, we fuel ourselves with the anger, and we feed the fires that burn down our kindness, gentleness, compassion, and neighborly love. We tell our children that the world is a scary place, and I won’t argue that it feels that way. But we often forget to tell them about all the good things, too. We arm ourselves and our families with shells of independence, and we build walls around ourselves so that we don’t rely on anyone or anything.

And then, in a moments notice, the unthinkable could happen.

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If you’ve seen the news lately, you’re probably aware of the monstrous storm that ravaged the Florida Panhandle just under a week ago. Being a Panhandle native with family in one of the hardest hit towns and a home just 80 miles down the road, you could imagine that I followed it closely. I watched the storm tracker and checked every update. I prayed as Hurricane Michael headed northward in the Gulf of Mexico, barreling closer and closer to my friends and family. I was captivated on Wednesday as footage and photos trickled in, showing the unimaginable devastation this storm left in its tracks.

I awaited messages from my own family just to know they were okay. I saw Facebook posts from friends in Panama City checking in from whatever safe haven they evacuated to. I saw comments on local news sites’ pages from individuals around the country just begging for someone to go check on their mother, their nephew, their sister, their children.

300 miles away from home has never felt farther.

It was heart-wrenching. It was tragic. It was everything you wish you never had to see. It was bad – very, very bad.

And then, as daylight broke on Thursday morning, incredible things began to happen. Locations all over the Panhandle opened shelters and organized food drives. Linemen from all over the country showed up to start working towards getting the lights back on. The National Guard, police officers, firefighters, and EMS sprung into action to make sure all were safe and accounted for. Neighbors were helping neighbors. Donation after donation began pouring in. Churches opened their doors – some of which don’t even have roofs.

If you turn on the news, you’re probably still seeing the stories of Wednesday’s devastation. The stories of death and destruction. You’re seeing a news anchor with a solemn stare and photos of entire communities wiped off the map. And these things are all very real, completely heartbreaking, and deserve to be seen.

But, what you might not be seeing is that there is so much good happening right now in the Florida Panhandle amidst all this tragedy and loss. There is so much hope being found in the most unlikely of circumstances. For the past 5 days, I haven’t been able to scroll through Facebook without seeing someone I know collecting supplies to take over to our neighbors to the East. Friday night, our local high schools played football and rose above their individual rivalries to come together to collect donations for those in dire situations. As soon as they were allowed in, friends, families, and total strangers began making the trek through disaster areas to do anything and everything they could to help. What I’m seeing right now in my hometown and those surrounding it is nothing short of incredible.

There is compassion and kindness and gentleness and neighborly love encompassing those communities. People are going above and beyond what you might expect from them, and they are loving each other so well. This is how I want to see the world, even if it’s not always easy. These are the things I wish we noticed more often.

These are the things that make an impact. These are the things that overcome the tragedy every single time. These are the things that have the most power to change how you see the world. And they’re out there. They don’t exist exclusively in tragedy and they don’t exist exclusively in disaster zones. We just never think to look for them anywhere else.

I hope you’ll start looking for the good in this world. More than that, I hope you’ll start to be the good in this world, too. We don’t have to wait for hurricanes or fires or earthquakes or wars, there’s enough pain out there already. Rather than piling on or avoiding altogether, let’s just do a little good instead. Okay? Okay.

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Right now there is so much need in the Florida Panhandle and throughout the southeast. So many have lost everything but their lives and are in desperate need for help. If you find yourself able, please consider donating to Hurricane Michael relief efforts.

There are many organizations helping hurricane victims, here are a few:

American Red Cross 

Habitat For Humanity

National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster

World Vision

We can make it better. Heck, we might could even make it good.