Even though I’m an adult now, I still find myself watching Disney channel from time to time. I babysit every now and again and when I do, I end up watching it with the kids, but I’m also not ashamed to admit that I still watch one show even when the kids aren’t around. That show is called “Girl Meets World.” Because I’m a 90’s baby, I started watching this show because it’s a spin off of one of my all time favorite childhood shows, “Boy Meets World.” It’s very corny at times, but I still watch it because my favorite characters from “Boy Meets World” make regular appearances and because every now and then there is an important message behind one of the episodes.

In a recent episode entitled “Girl Meets the Real World,” Cory and Topanaga’s daughter, Riley, is forced to argue a position in a debate that she doesn’t agree with. Riley is the type of person who sees the world through rose-colored glasses. Everyone and everything is good in her world and she can’t be convinced otherwise (or at least she hasn’t been convinced yet). Because of this, her father/teacher assigns her to debate how people are fundamentally evil while the rest of her class is forced to debate how people are fundamentally good.

Because Riley has such a difficult time seeing the world as a bad place, Riley’s best friend, Maya, helps her by showing her information that could help Riley win her debate. Maya pulls up some of the top news stories on her laptop and Riley is forced to realize that the world isn’t as happy and go-lucky as she has believed it to be all of these years. When Riley learns about all of the war, poverty, neglect of the environment, and hatred that goes on across the world on a daily basis her own world-view becomes shattered. While Riley once believed that she could never debate that people are fundamentally bad, she now not only has the fuel to win her debate, but she also believes whole-heartedly that people are fundamentally bad. As a result, she then starts to engage in some less than favorable behavior because now she can be “bad” since everyone else in the world is bad.

On the day of the debate, Riley wakes up to find out that her mother and little brother, Auggie, had gotten up early that morning to go and clean up the beach. When she finds out what they have done, Riley questions the importance of this small act. She believes that it was pointless for her mom and brother to clean up a small portion of the beach when the majority of the beach was still dirty even after the work they had put in. After hearing this, Auggie becomes distraught and questions his actions as well. Because of his sister’s remarks, Auggie starts to also believe that the work he completed that morning was pointless. Their mother quickly lets him know that cleaning up the small portion of the beach that they did clean up was still a good act to do because the act was able to help at least one person.

After some thinking, Riley comes to realize that people are good. Because of this tiny act that her brother performed, Riley was able to be convinced that her old-world view was the right view. She soon comes to the conclusion that if there is so much bad in the world and people are still willing to get up and try and do good even though they know that that act won’t make a huge difference in the world then people must be good because they’d rather try and do something to make the world a little better rather than sit around and doing nothing.

There are bad things and bad people out there in the world, but there are also good people out there in the world positive thinker. They do exist. They’re not always easy to come by, so when you find these people, it’s important for you to hold on to them. If you have people in your life that make your life better these are the kinds of people that you want to keep around. You see, when you turn on the news, you might start to believe that the world is a pretty bad place to live in and that the people in this world just might actually be fundamentally bad. We do have war, poverty, neglect of the environment, and hatred surrounding us from every part of the world, but the good people in the world, and more specifically, the good people in your life, make the world seem like it’s not such a bad place after all.

Positive thinker, seek out the good people in the world.

And when you find them make sure to cherish them because they make (y)our world a better place.