BY SARAH RUIZ, Staff Photographer

Whenever someone on campus asks me what I want to be when I graduate, I hesitate to tell him or her I want to become a journalist.

Let’s be honest, most people don’t like journalists. And I can’t say I blame them.

We turn on the news or pick up the paper, and we see the bad in the world. News of invasions, wars, murders and rapes make the front page.

Corrupt politicians and celebrities fill the news racks and make us think the world is led by the worst.

It’s no wonder I hesitate to tell people I plan to join the ranks of people bringing them this news.

Even I am skeptical of the news and what the media feeds us.

It breaks my heart to see all the bad news and the stories of heartbreak.

Where is the good? Where are the stories of people doing amazing things? Where are the stories that will give us hope?

I’ll tell you where they are: They are all around us because people are fundamentally good.

Here in Ellensburg, I see it everyday. I see it in the person who holds the door open for someone with their hands full of books, or a professor who treats you like a person instead of a number.

But the stories of the good in the world have fallen by the wayside; instead we run stories of pain, and I think I know why.

Somewhere along our way we stopped valuing people for their good and their skills and instead we see most people as competition.

The media is giving us the bad news because it makes us comfortable. It makes us feel better to read stories of crimes and corruption because it’s not happening to us. By hearing the bad, we believe we are doing okay. We think “At least that’s not me,” or “Hey, I can’t be doing that bad, look what that person is doing.”

Feeding us the bad puts us in a bubble. If we listen to the bad in the world, we will feel better about ourselves.

That’s why you hate the media, but you can’t stop absorbing news.

It’s an addiction. You want to be informed, but you become complacent in the news the media trickles down to you.

Stories of the good in humanity are everywhere. Social media is proof of this.

All the viral stories you share and see and love are proof we want to know the good news as well.

It is comforting to know there are people in the world doing well and making a difference.

However, until mainstream media notices this trend, you will likely see positive stories only on your timeline, not your TVs.

Human-interest stories are my passion. I want to be a journalist who brings you news that makes you smile and inspires you to be better. I believe each and every person is a beautiful story waiting to be told.

So please don’t roll your eyes or groan when I tell you I want to be a journalist.

I want to be the change. I want to take what is happening on social media and blow the trend wide open to the public. I want you to read the news and smile.

There is good all around us, and I promise to, one day, do my best to bring that news to you.