"What so ever things are true, think on these things"

I hate being manipulated.  I am resistant to most advertising.  I absolutely refuse telephone solicitations.  I have a rule never to give money to people who call for donations.  If they follow up by mail so I can check them out, then I will consider it.  Twice in the last month I have been contacted for donations to children with cancer by an organization I have never heard of.  I asked for written material so I could check them out with the State and also to see how much of every dollar goes to the professional fund raiser.  They ended the call.  Yep. Thought so.
Now we are confronted with the horror of the Boston Marathon bombings.  A friend of my warned people on Facebook about false postings of children injured while running.  There were no children running in the marathon.  It is a bogus meme that people fail to authenticate before passing on the horror.  If we stopped to think for a moment, we would know children don't run marathons. Such postings are crass bids for attention.
My friend Wendy went on to explain a psychologist had given this phenomena perspective, not that either of us like it any better.  We both hide such memes from our newsfeed. The psychologist indicates that these viral messages intend to upset people and manipulate them into passing them around.  Sharing the horror apparently reduces the individual angst with an empty gesture which brings us all down. Meanwhile everyone passing on the horror gets to appear compassionate and, I might add ,powerful.  "Look how many shares are attached to my message of horror!"
This is an emotional level manipulation aimed at people who have poor shielding skills.  Then we wonder why so many are depressed, angry and critical of this world.  They are shills for people who want to think the worst, who believe the only direction we are all headed is to hell in a hand basket.
There is another insidious trend by gullible people, who knows who started it, that claim these violent events are bogus, the pictures are photo shopped and the government is using us by playing on our heart strings. That is equally crass.  I have family who were there.  Who even thinks these things?
Overall, however, I am encouraged. This time, in this terrible event, the images are increasingly of compassion, bravery and stubborn insistence on the goodness of people. The manipulators are losing the spotlight. I particularly like the number of people reminding each other to "look for the helpers." I am cheered by the people who ran to give blood, who opened their homes to shelter tired runners, who keep sending positive images.  MIT lit up the side of its green building in red white and blue.  The President said this is who we are: unafraid and brave. We are not a people to be manipulated.  We are not ones to be fooled. And neither are those of you reading this message. Next time you see something stupid on Facebook, block it.  Wipe it out.  We won't stand for that.  Not anymore.

I heard Johnny Lee Miller in an interview this morning.  He was on The View to promote Elementary, his Sherlock Homes TV show. He is a marathon runner so Barbara Walters asked him for his thoughts.  He spoke about the incredible love among people in the running community, that as shocking as this recent violence is, it will not discourage that love and interdependence.  I liked that.  The picture I added here just to brighten the page is of a European marathon from 2008, Swiss I think.  Running is a world community.  They again bring out the best in human kind. And the best will always win. It doesn't matter who comes in first.  My cousin's daughter ran for charity in the Boston Marathon, to provide PT services for people whose insurance doesn't cover that.  She is okay, though I imagine shock sets in a bit.  I am immensely proud of her and her friends who joined the event for charity.  People like her steer the world in the right direction. We need to follow their lead, tell their stories and pass the good words around every day.