”You do the
Hokey Pokey
and you turn
yourself around.
That’s what it’s
all about!” 
Larry LaPrise

Yeah,… What is it all about? If your answer is “Alfie,” you’re old. The incomparable recording artist, Cher, sang this tune, written by Burt Bacharach, in 1966, two months prior to the release of the movie, Alfie. In the movie, according to Wikipedia, “The narrative follows a young, womanizing man leading a self-centered life, focused on his own enjoyment until events force him to question his uncaring behavior, his loneliness, and his priorities.”

This sounds like a modern day drama that could take place just about anywhere. I’ve never seen the movie, so I can’t really say much more about it, but it seems that the young man is contemplating the ultimate meaning of life. I won’t try to address this topic in a simple blog post. Instead, I’ll write briefly today about the meaning of A Beacon of Light. What is this blog all about? That’s a question I can answer with a degree of certainty.

After sixteen years of writing on the topic of gratitude in my Attitude of Gratitude blog, I decided to launch A Beacon of Light in 2022. My intent with this new blog was and is to focus on what’s good in life — good vibes only. I don’t want to talk about politics. I have no desire to proselytize. I’m not interested in highlighting the negativity which exists in our world. We get enough of that from various media sources every day.

This blog is devoted to positivity. Life is not perfect, but I do believe it is overwhelmingly good. Yes, there is evil in our world. I am convinced, however, that there is far more good than evil. We are inundated with information, and often misinformation, about the reality of evil each day on television news reports. This is precisely why I believe that evil is the exception, rather than the norm. News reports tend to focus on the unusual, the surprising, the outrageous, and the destructive things going on in the world. This is precisely what makes the stories newsworthy.

The good in the world is the norm. It doesn’t make for interesting news. It fails to get the attention it deserves because it doesn’t enhance TV ratings. Ratings are what bring advertising dollars to the networks. The more outlandish the news story, the higher the ratings. The higher the ratings, the greater the profits for stockholders.

What’s it all about? It’s about the best-kept secret in the world today: that people are basically good; that life is basically good; and that we can choose to focus on the good if we have the desire to do so.

As Viktor Frankl pointed out in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, “The last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.” In this blog, I choose positivity, and I want to share this positivity with all who take the time to read what I’ve written. Like so many other attitudes, positivity is contagious. Together, we have the potential to launch an epidemic of positivity.