All we have to work with is to observe where things seem to be headed at the present moment. But where we look can make a big difference.
I watch PBS Newshour almost every evening. There they cover national and international news, and at the end of the hour I usually feel depressed, angry, afraid or all three at the same time regarding what lies ahead.
Five days ago I read a post on the Psychology Today website which pretty much sums up how I react to what is going on in this country and the world.
The world, in general, has been continuing its centuries-long struggle … toward better lives for most people and more rights for disadvantaged and oppressed groups. But the last decade or so has felt different, and this year has been truly depressing and frightening, in equal measure.
My list of Top 10 horrors includes:
The Earth hurtling toward climate catastrophe (hurricanes, floods, wildfires).
Dangerous dysfunction in the White House
The fact that 77 million human beings voted for the above
The longstanding, unelected, presence of dangerous dysfunction in the Kremlin
The growth of the far-right across Europe
A far-right government in Israel committing war crimes in Gaza
Extremist Islamists, including Hamas, continue to incite violent terrorism internationally
The strangely exclusive focus of “the left” (my own tribe) on atrocities in Gaza, while ignoring similar abominations in Sudan, Myanmar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Xinjiang (China), Ukraine, Ethiopia, and Nigeria
Increased antisemitism and anti-Muslim bigotry
Increased divisiveness and polarization, internationally, fueled by the grotesque, profit-oriented algorithms of unregulated social media platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, and X.
But every Wednesday I get the Forest Park Review and read about:
200 people coming to Constitution Court for a No Kings rally revealing that democracy is at work on this local level
The park district puts on its annual Fourth of July event
Arts Alliance’s robust 2025 in Forest Park — last year, the Forest Park arts group saw over 2,000 people participate in at least five annual events
Thousands of people attend Casket Races and the St. Patrick’s Day Parade sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce
The Annual Forest Park Juneteenth Pool Party, founded in 2008 by Mayor Rory Hoskins and community residents
Kiwanis Food Drive, 20 volunteers responding to an October call for help from the Howard Mohr Community Center’s food pantry that its shelves were about bare.
The park district recently received major recognition, including a 2025 Illinois Association of Park Districts (IAPD) Best of the Best Award for Intergovernmental Cooperation for their successful Pocket Parks Project with the village, transforming small neighborhood spaces. Additionally, their Aquatic Center staff earned a 2025 Silver International Aquatic Safety Award from Ellis and Associates, highlighting excellent safety standards
The Brown Cow, a beloved ice cream shop on Madison Street, got new business and building owners, Oak Park residents Andi and Gustavo de Fraga, and Sarah and Nick Stewart. It was also the last day that Connie Brown scooped ice cream before retiring from the business
Forest Park’s four-school District 91, where at least half of the students are considered low-income, received a “commendable” rating on the 2023 state report card. The rating is the second highest on the State Board of Education’s four-category scale
When I finish reading the Review I rarely feel angry or depressed. We did have problems like a rat infestation, an attempted murder on the Blue Line, and a woman shattering a Walmart door with a hammer, but from my point of view from the first floor of a condo building on the north side of town, our issues are relatively small and manageable.
Forest Park markets itself as having small-town charm, so I started to wonder, Is Forest Park a 21st-century urban version of Mayberry, the fictional small town that served as the setting for the Andy Griffith Show which ran on CBS between 1960 and 1968?
Words I found online to describe Mayberry include nostalgic, idyllic, small, peaceful, simpler, more wholesome, quiet, sleepy, filled with quirky loveable characters, safe, quaint, and a place where life’s minor problems were solved with folksy wisdom, humor, and community spirit rather than force.
Forest Park is relatively small and we do have our share of quirky, loveable characters, but we are not as idyllic a community as Mayberry. Even the 51 owners in my condo association don’t come close to that Norman Rockwell kind of picture.
And yet when I focus on my life here in town in 2026, I feel a lot more hopeful than when I obsess about the dysfunction in Washington D.C., or the violence in Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan.
In 1973 E.F. Schumacher came out with a book titled Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Matter.
Size does seem to matter.
