2021
August
20
Friday

Monitor Daily Podcast

August 20, 2021
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Where does joy come from?

OK, that’s a deep question. But for many people living in Belfast, Maine, one answer this week is simple: from a duck. Specifically, a 25-foot-tall inflated duck that mysteriously appeared floating in Belfast Harbor, with a hint of a smile on its orange beak and the letters J-O-Y emblazoned across the front of its yellow body. 

“Everybody loves it,” Belfast Harbor Master Katherine Given told the Bangor Daily News. “I have no idea who owns it, but it kind of fits Belfast. A lot of people want to keep it here.”

Thanks to tweets and news reports, the uplift has spread beyond Maine. My thought: It could hardly come at a better time. 

The plight of thousands seeking safety in Afghanistan. Struggles in the aftermath of earthquake in Haiti, floods in North Carolina, and fires in the West and around the world. The pandemic’s shifting challenges.

The world can’t run from such problems. The Monitor has you covered on them. And we as individuals may have roles to play in addressing them. That duck doesn’t help if it’s a mere distraction. 

But we’ve all seen how even glimmers of joy can lighten heavy moments and help us see paths forward. This buoyant feeling is often tethered to other qualities like gratitude, hope, courage, which can be vital to progress.

Not everyone will get a boost from yellow ducks. But there’s good reason for joy to stay in our headlines right alongside the stories of still-unmet aspirations for peace, health, and security.


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Abdullah Sahil/AP
Taliban fighters stand guard at a checkpoint in Kunduz in northern Afghanistan, Aug. 9, 2021. Taliban recruiters have built a network of fighters in the north among ethnic minorities that had opposed the fundamentalist rule of the Taliban in the 1990s.

Essay

Fernando Llano/AP
A grandmother cuddles with her grandchild on the grounds of a school where residents are taking refuge after being displaced by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake, in Les Cayes, Haiti, Aug. 18, 2021.

A deeper look

Stephanie Hanes/The Christian Science Monitor
Tubers and kayakers make use of Rainbow River in central Florida. Fed by the Rainbow Springs, one of the largest springs in the state, the river is a unique and threatened habitat.
Photo illustration by Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Ice cream – like these peppermint and pistachio scoops from Purity Ice Cream in Ithaca, New York – is a summer staple. Demand for nondairy options is changing the market.

The Monitor's View

AP
People listen to speakers during the Redistricting Reform Rally Aug. 11 at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis.

A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

A message of love

Yiannis Kourtoglou/Reuters
A newly hatched baby sea turtle makes its way into the Mediterranean Sea for the first time, on a beach near Kiti village in Cyprus on Aug. 20, 2021.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Karen Norris. )

A look ahead

Thanks for joining us today. Happy weekend, and we look forward to greeting you again in the new week, when our stories will include how tribal colleges and universities are supporting Native American cultures and communities.

More issues

2021
August
20
Friday
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