I find myself wanting to turn everything off. In the words of the Wiz, give me no more bad news. Still, as the nation celebrates its independence, 53 migrants died trying to find their way to a uniquely American freedom. It seems hopeless.

Yet, for all the chaos that social media brings into my life, I find myself expressing gratitude. You see, I was reminded that 12 years ago, a young man by the name of Amir Jackson was “starving for education” on the corner of Hill Field and Antelope in Layton. He was a Weber State University student who had completed his military service and was looking for a way to change the world.

Amir believed that lives could be changed using the arts. That those changes could be done through the creation of his nonprofit, Nurture the Creative Mind Foundation. And that by raising $1,500, he could positively impact area youth. He was and continues to be right.

A humble leader with his fingers in as many projects as he can handle, Amir continues to change lives through connection, conversation, activity and education. It could be the pianos you’ve seen around Ogden, or his fingerprints on the Ogden Arts Festival or even Prom Night in Ogden. He gets people talking, connecting and bridging gaps because together we can do more, better.

He never strays from working with our youth because he sees it as making a “positive counter investment to the sometimes negative investment of media, society, music, and all other forms of negative stimulus up to and including the youth themselves.” His belief that a positive investment in today’s youth virtually ensures a brighter tomorrow is what is allowing me to breathe today.

In moments marked by pain, hostility, anger, aggression, confusion and inflation, the Nurture the Creative Mind Foundation is providing hope. It is providing positive attention now, lessening the need for negative attention later. I find this humbling as I am among the folks pressing for my own point of view and perspective. Rather than talking about what we can or should do, Amir’s foundation is focused on doing the work now, helping people see the value in themselves and the worth of others through creative endeavor and expression.

By making each person in the program realize their inherent value as part of a common humanity, our youth respect themselves and each other as a basic right of humanity. And it gets the work done through creative writing, music, visual arts, film and engagement in addition to community events. All focused on and in celebration of our youth.

How do we apply this model to us adults who are struggling with the separation between church and state, which rights we have and who gets to decide, and just what the American Dream is today?

Last night I spent several hours making cards. I love to stamp, scrap, color, create and make something that gets put in an envelope and sent to someone I care about. Making something makes me feel human. It reminds me that with some paper, adhesive and markers I can take something benign and turn it into a hug. I can take some yarn and needles and knit together a dishcloth or gloves and give them to someone who needs them, who needs to be seen. I can take fabric scraps and turn them into a quilt or a wrap for someone who needs a smile, who simply needs to know that the things that divide us are far fewer than the things that unite us. And that starts with nurturing our creative mind.

I suppose, it means taking the news — good, bad or indifferent — and finding a way to connect through the pain, the fear and the pride to remember that there is hope. Hope for a better tomorrow than today. And that as we continue to hold on, we come closer to that dream. If our youth can do it — if they can face the thousand dramas and traumas and angst of being young people in this day, at this time — we can too. Let’s all try to share some good news by nurturing our creative minds. It just might save us.

Adrienne Andrews is the vice president for equity, diversity and inclusion at Weber State University. Twitter: AdieAndrewsCDO