'Tell me something good'

As many do before heading off to work each day, my husband and I turn on a local television station to check the weather forecast. This morning, the two items we heard before the weather segment were about a gunman who shot several people in California (can we go a day without something like this happening somewhere?) and a 31-year-old male sex offender who posed as a 12-year-old and attended several Arizona schools for two years. This deviant was sentenced to more than 70 years in prison yesterday.

My husband said, "I'm sick of this. We're always hearing bad news. Why can't we hear about the hundreds of cyclists who braved the elements in the Wheels O' Fire ride to raise money for a good cause? Tell me something good."

After getting past the initial free-association thought "tell me something good" brought to mind—think Rufus and Chaka Khan, or Pink— it hit me. I would write about something good in today's post. If you are suffering from good-news deprivation, read on.

The first item I opened in my e-mail inbox this morning was from Marty Rice, one of thefabricator.com's reader-favorite authors. Marty wrote to give me the status of his new article, which will appear on the Web site next month. He also wrote about how excited and happy he is for one of his welding students at Dale Jackson Career Center (DJCC), Lewisville, Texas, who won the SemperComm national art contest—"a dynamite student [Marty] will miss big time."

Marty included a release about the award:

Luis Hernandez has won the 2009 SemperComm national art contest with his tribute to the Military Service Branches titled "The True Five Stars."

DJCC Welding has now won the competition two of the last three years, taking Top Honorable Mention last year.

The students travel to Washington D.C. meeting top military brass and corporate sponsors for SemperComm.org, an organization that provides communications for troops stationed on remote bases. Their artwork is donated to be auctioned off for the cause.

The Department of Defense article about Hernandez described the sculpture.

"Hernandez's unique entry, 'The True Five Stars,' was a welded sculpture that started out with a long piece of copper tubing, cut in half, into which he cut 'USA' and the names of each military service.

"'Metal and copper can't be welded, so it had to be brazed,' Hernandez said. 'After the branches were on the copper cannons, I cut a rectangular piece of diamond plate, which I welded to four-inch steel. I finished off the project with painting and clear coating. The six cannons represent the protection for this country. Each cannon holds a branch of the military.'"

"He said he added 'USA' in the middle to show the country being protected by the services."

The article also quoted Hernandez as saying, "The 'USA' represents compassion and respect, along with all the men and women that serve as police officers or help out the community in a major way. A lot of pride went into my piece."

Hernandez is an excellent example of someone with a good attitude, who has used his skills in a positive way to acknowledge and support those who protect and defend our country.

If you have good news, share it with others.

Now, I have to find a way to stop the song "Tell Me Something Good" from running endlessly through my head.