Maybe things aren’t as bad as they seem.

Prevailing wisdom says that nobody cares about anybody but themselves.

Even in the student government elections, much of the decision-making process involves wondering how the outcome will affect someone personally, rather than thinking about who the best candidate for the student body will be.

But on April 21, hundreds of Eastern students volunteered their time and helped out others at the Special Olympics in O’Brien Stadium.

This is routine to these volunteers.

The selfless acts are probably something that they do on a regular basis.

But to someone who is fed up with the selfishness of others, it’s an indication that maybe there are more people out there who are more concerned with others than with which bar is going to get them drunk tonight or which house to party at.

It’s not that difficult to have a negative overall feeling about the world.

There is a war in Iraq going on and it will probably go on for the better part of forever.

Iran and the United States will probably soon square off, whether it be with arms or with stare-downs.

P. Diddy was recently named to Time’s 100 Most Influential People list for 2005.

But for a day in Charleston, none of that mattered.

For one day, everything was put off to the side so that Special Olympics athletes could experience their day in the sun.

These athletes weren’t like other athletes.

They actually cared about what they were doing. They worked their tails off to make it to this event and show people that they could compete.

Volunteers showed the athletes that people cared about them and that it was their day. They were there to hug them as they crossed the finish line. They were there to cheer them on when they looked like they were about to quit.

But they never quit because they had the support of others.

The looks on the faces of the competitors were priceless.

There weren’t any winners or losers that day. Whether an athlete finished first or fifth, the reaction was the same. They jumped up and down on the medals podium and took in the cheering of friends, family and volunteers in the crowd.

There were a couple of speed bumps.

One competitor twisted her ankle on the northeast area of the track. The trainers saw to her and it showed just how real the competition was.

One girl fell on her face halfway through a 100-meter run. Discouraged, but still confident, she got up and finished the race as fast as she could. She was naturally disappointed but the volunteers pushed her on to the finish line.

But these falls showed how serious the competitors were and that it was a competition.

At the end of the day, however, at least one person saw that there are more good people out there than jus the ones that pop up all too infrequently on the news.