“I believe most people are good and most mamas oughta qualify for sainthood.” This line is from country star Luke Bryan’s hit “Most People Are Good,” please Google and listen if you haven’t heard it. It’s also a great segue to Happy Mother’s Day! As far as the sainthood I definitely agree with Luke.

Thank you to the moms, stepmoms, and grandmothers. Thank you to all that provide motherly love and caring. “What the World Needs Now is Love Sweet Love,” and this begins with a mother’s love. And yes, that is another song reference to the early seventies hit by Dionne Warwick that goes by the same title.

Take the time to say Happy Mother’s Day, not just to your Mom, but all the special ladies in your life that make this world a far better place. A mother’s love begins with selflessness and never ends no matter how old her child becomes.

Please take the time to visit those in elder care facilities; just your presence is a most special Mother’s Day gift. Share the greeting during your visit with others that may be looking for a child or special someone that may not make it.

Now back to that Luke Bryan song. I do believe most people are good. The problem is in today’s world everything from social media, to the news, to what is to be entertainment is painted with a most negative brush. They put the spotlight on the worst of the worst. Not very often do they talk about all the great people and the good deeds that are going on. Their focus is on the negative of the day. Whatever has the most shock value and serves whatever agenda they’re pushing.

There is no doubt there are many horrific problems that need to be solved. That there are just flat-out bad people out there. But what a truly small percentage they make up in the world we live in, especially here in the West Branch Valley.

We all need to be positive, caring and loving of our fellow man. Love and compromise will unite and solve problems. The creation of hatred and divide will create nightmares for all. This applies to every issue of division you can watch on the evening news.

“I believe if you go by the nightly news your faith in all mankind would be the first thing you lose.” This is another line from that Luke Bryan song. Truer words have never been spoken or sung.

One last thought to share about the lyrics from one of my favorite Luke Bryan tunes. This is for all moms and dads. “I believe kids ought to stay kids as long as they can, turn off the screen, go climb a tree, get dirt on their hands.” Handheld electronic devices are robbing our children of their youth. Whether it’s through social bullying, learning about a topic they’re much too young to digest, or simply stealing hours and days they should be enjoying as children.

Parents stop using electronic devices as babysitters while you’re on Facebook telling the world how great of a parent you are. Parents, please set time limits on electronic devices and holdfast. The best thing you can do for the children of today is to get them outside. I don’t care what the activity is, make it fun and approach it hands-on together.

We are so very blessed to live in such a beautiful part of God’s Green Earth. Share God’s Gift with your children in person, not through some electronic device. Enjoy the special days while your children are young and everything is new to them. Our area is full of things to do with your child, and as they get older, there’s so much more that is just a short drive away.

The more time a family spends together without cell phones, the closer they will become. That is just common sense. This includes the family table, which very often in today’s world is eating at a restaurant. It doesn’t matter if it’s at home or away — put the cell phones down at the family table. This should be a special time between you and your children. Talk about the success of the day or something that may not have gone so well. Ask how school is going, who their friends are. There is no wrong conversation for the family table. Everything should be kept in bounds by the adults, but don’t deter any topic a child would like to discuss.

When I see a family out eating dinner, and none of them can even make eye contact with the waitress because their cell phones hypnotize them, it goes through me like a knife. What are you teaching your children? It sure isn’t to respect an adult or how to communicate. More importantly, what kind of parent are you teaching them to become for the future? I would love to take their phones away from them and smash them as they watched.

Do I think this would make a difference and unite them for the good? Do I believe they would sit there and have dinner and conversation together? Heck no. However, it would bring the family together and focused on a common goal, making sure that crazy man pays for their cell phone demolition.

God Bless America.