When You’re Digging Through Dirt, You Might As Well Look for Gold

"If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things." (Article of Faith 13). We have to be active in seeking out the good in this world. The wicked, the ugly, the bad and the despicable will find us whether we like it or not, with little to no effort on our part. Social media algorithms, news organizations and film and television industries are all designed to channel to us the most "exciting" content - which generally translates into the most upsetting, controversial, or horrifying. A lie can go around the world before the truth has got its boots on. For all of us who are plugged in, the world seems to be getting worse and worse faster and faster each day. But just because modern technology has created ways to sling mud and dirt at us much more efficiently, much more rapidly, and at much greater volume, that does not mean that the balance of good and evil, virtuous and vile, lovely and ugly, praiseworthy and cringeworthy has shifted all that much. The algorithms and media strategies may not be interested in serving up the beautiful and decent things in this world, but that doesn't mean that they have disappeared from the world. When you're panning for gold, you have to sift through metric tons of dirt to find that one precious glint of gold, but having to wade through the muck to find it in no way cheapens it or diminishes its glory. It has always been easier to be disappointed rather than delighted, hateful rather than hopeful, jaded rather than joyful. But when we choose to seek out the good in this world, we will find it. Whether we look for the good or not, we're going to get covered in dirt and mud anyway, so we might as well have a little nugget of gold to show for it rather than just more mud and dirt.