So. There is evil in the world, there are people who would do harm to others.

But there are also a lot of small good things, that perhaps can add up to cancel some of the bad.

A good friend of mine, who was facing a (second) cancer scare has got all her bloodwork back and all signs point to inflammation from an abdominal surgery causing the symptoms. There is no evidence of cancer.

My father is slowly getting better; he's being able to drop some of the medications he had to take. He also called me to let me know that the prayer afghan I made him and gave him at Christmas is very useful to him - one of the meds has the side effect of mucking with his body temperature and he gets cold sometimes, so having the afghan on hand when he needs it is a good thing. (This makes me happy because there have been few things I have been able to knit for him - I've never had the energy to do a sweater for him [he wears a 46 long suitcoat] and he usually doesn't wear them anyway, he has a furry Russian winter hat that is his favorite hat, he's not really a scarf wearer, and he uses leather driving gloves...so it's nice to have SOMETHING I could make for him).

I know both of those are basically selfish things for me, that I'm getting to keep people I care about in my life, but I guess it also points to the skill and care and diligence of doctors and researchers to find ways to prevent or alleviate human misery.

I've been able to point a few of the Knitlisters to Eileen's excellent instructions for making a short rowed Shape It! scarf (FWIW, it's message 81768 in the Knitlist Archives). I know that's a small thing but I like to think of the sharing of knowledge as a good thing and a kindness that breaks down barriers...

I heard on the radio that right after the attacks, a group of men working on a construction site in London (near the attacks) showed up at a blood bank, offering to donate blood to help the victims. It's the same thing over again, I think, as in the aftermath of September 11 - after an act that shows the worst of humanity, hundreds to thousands of people step up and show the better side of humanity. And everywhere you see people asking (here in the US at least) "Is there anything we can do to help?" (I suspect the answer is "Not really, beyond praying")

I guess when you come down to it, I'm basically a cockeyed optimist. I tend to think humans have more good than bad in them. On a cosmic level, I believe that evil will eventually be beaten by good.