Turn to any news station and watch as the anchor tells you the stories of scandals, crime, celebrities and war. Media has become saturated with gossip and tragedy for the sake of ratings. "Anchorman 2" was not wrong. It held a comic, yet accurate mirror, when Ron Burgundy first reported that car chase to go from late night news to prime time. As a society, we focus on the wrong things. We are cynical. We focus on the things that upset us, or things that rile people up, instead of the things that make us happy or bring positivity to the world. We are all guilty of it, and we are caught in a cycle that is difficult, but not impossible, to break.

There are a great deal of tragedies, and yes, the world needs to be exposed to them, but I believe there is a far greater number of acts of kindness that come as a result of these losses and make our society keep moving forward.

One of the exceptions to this rule is the story of Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistani woman who has made incredible strides for the education of women in countries that do not allow young women to go to school. As the youngest recipient of a Nobel Prize, she has been reported on for her incredibly positive work around the world. I have written about Yousafzai before, and I admire her drive and her passion for equality. To me, Yousafzai embodies the mythological phoenix. She defied death and arose from the attempt on her life, bringing a light to one of the most war-torn areas of the world. She did not allow the oppression and threats of the Taliban to affect her and her cause. She still fights for the basic human right to an education, not just for young women, but for children everywhere.

Yousafzai dedicated her book, "I Am Malala,""To those children all over the world who have no access to education, to those teachers who bravely continue teaching, and to anyone who has fought for their basic human rights and education."

You do not have to be world-renowned to make the world a better place. With the help of ordinary men and women who strive to help their fellow human beings, accompanied by the advancements of technology and medicine, the world is gradually becoming a better and better place. We still have a long way to go, but we have come so far, so quickly.