Rumors and compassion

Two stories about not believing everything you read in newspapers.

Throughout this week, excitement has been building over the news that former France international soccer star Zinedine Zidane will visit Gaza in March on a UNICEF humanitarian mission.
....However, Zidane, The Last Word discovered, not only has no connection with UNICEF, but never made any commitment to visit Gaza or made any of the comments attributed to him.
The story was apparently complete fabrication which someone created and used to dupe thousands of people across the globe.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1259831457071&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Hamas representative in Lebanon Osama Hamdan denied reports according to which captive soldier Gilad Shalit had been transferred to Egypt several days ago.
.....The Kuwait daily al-Jarida reported that Shalit had been moved to Egypt....
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3814568,00.html

Two stories about compassion.
In a CNN article, Ruben Navarrette Jr. writes about the movie, The Blind Side, which tells the story of a family who took a homeless inner-city high school student into their home.
"He had a much greater impact on our lives than we did on his life," Leigh Anne said in a recent interview. "You have this child, and you bring him in, and you realize how fortunate you are, how you're blessed to have family, you're blessed to have your health. So much in life you take for granted."
There's the message: So much in life you take for granted. We've forgotten how lucky we are, because we're busy cursing fate. We've stopped being grateful for what we have, because we somehow find it more satisfying to complain about what we don't. Until we meet someone who has much less than we do.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/12/04/navarrette.blindside.inspiration/index.html

Six months ago, a Long Island convenience store owner turned a would-be robbery into an act of compassion. On Wednesday, the shoplifter made amends with a $50 bill and a thank you letter for saving him from a life of crime.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/12/03/convenience.store.compassion/index.html