When you tune into the news, it's pretty common to hear negative stories. Maybe it's a new piece of infrastructure that's not going to open on time; a politician being accused of inappropriate spending; court cases, etc. But, not all news stories are bad. Still, I'm noticing a disturbing trend -- it doesn't matter how neutral or positive a story is, some people will still turn it into a bad thing.

For example, this week, I did a story on the new Truro hospital to use ankle sensor bracelets for newborns. The hardware would be put on baby's ankle as soon as he or she is born, and, if someone tried to take baby out of the maternity ward, without permission, an alarm would be sounded, to alert staff. Seemed like a pretty positive story to me. Granted, there haven't been any newborn stealing incidents at the current hospital (that I'm aware of), but, it seems like a pretty good prevention tactic, and it's being used in hospitals across North America.

Well, the feedback on Facebook was mixed -- some people loved it! Others trashed the idea as a waste of money, especially since newborns are kept with their Moms, and slammed the Health Authority for putting the system in place.

Okay, fair enough. Everyone is more than entitled to their opinion, and it IS something that will cost extra money, and we all pay more taxes than we want to. But, wanna bet these same people would be complaining if, heaven forbid, a newborn was stolen from the hospital, that there weren't enough measures in place?

Then, our newsroom posted on Facebook that the UARB would be using its interrupter clause to change gas prices early, and all indications were they'd be going down. Great! Sure, gas is more than I'd like to pay, but, any drop is nice -- especially since we're starting to get into buying-for-Christmas mode.

Again, the negativity. Feedback on our social media sites was mostly complaints.

"It won't be enough"
"Sure, they'll put it down tonight, but probably jack it up twice as much Thursday"

I've even seen feel-good stories about someone surviving a horrible accident, or disease, turned negative, with "Who cares?" or "What's the big deal? It's not like she's the only person to ever have cancer".

Even when people donate large amounts of money to charity, some people are sour about that. When the IWK recently received a huge donation for its mental health division, people complained that the money would have been better spent elsewhere. Seriously? Complaining about someone's CHARITABLE donation? Wowzers.

I realize life isn't all sunshine, rainbows and laughter. Trust me, I know how crappy it can be. I am also a big advocate of sharing opinions, and questioning things. But, maybe some of us should stop looking for a bad side to every little thing. There might be more sunshine, rainbows and laughter without all of the negativity.