Add up all the war, political corruption, genocide, racial violence, religious extremism and continued spread of HIV/AIDs, and 2006 left us with a pretty bleak legacy.

Unless, that is, we take time away from the screaming headlines and frantic newscasters to consider the small, quiet stories of goodness.

Those stories are the almost-unnoticed fabric of our daily lives. Chances are you live, work, play and maybe even worship with people who make your life good.

You are probably good to others. Good people, after all, are in the majority.

Here's evidence:

_ The number of Americans who volunteer to help their fellow citizens is at a 30-year high, according to a report by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

This report says better than one in four adults (27 percent) give time to their communities. They do all sorts of good stuff-mentor students, beautify neighborhoods and pitch in after disasters.

A big reason for the surge is that volunteerism by teens ages 16 to 19 has more than doubled since 1989. In fact, teens are giving of their time and talent at a higher rate than adults.

In our community, we watch with awe each year as students collect food and money for holiday gift baskets for people who live in poverty.

These teens creatively turn their penchant for competition to amassing food instead of scoring touchdowns. Who can collect the highest stack of cans this year?

The kids have fun, and they provide thousands of food items and dollars for their neighbors.

_ Then there's the honesty issue. The Wenatchee Police Department set up a sting operation to catch would-be thieves on the busiest shopping days of the year, the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving.

They put a purse, unattended, in a shopping cart-easy pickings. The cops also set out attractive bait-an LCD TV and video games-in a parked car.

A hundred people walked by the purse and didn't touch it. In fact, at least 15 shoppers notified store employees about it. Police finally nabbed one person for taking the purse, but no one went for the bait in the car.

"We've got a lot of honest people," observed the police sergeant in charge. D'ya think? A newspaper editorial advised the cops to go back to fighting crime instead of trying to create it.

_ Moving right along to charity. People in our community proved that true charity is giving to those who may deserve it the least. We had quite an interesting squabble here over Christmas gifts for jail inmates.

As squabbles go, it was extraordinarily one-sided.

A request from the county jail chaplain, himself a volunteer, for simple Christmas gifts for inmates prompted a letter to the editor from a writer who objected:

"They would be the last people on earth that I would spend a dime on, and that would be too generous. They deserve nothing."

He may be right about what inmates deserve. Or wrong. It's of no difference. My late father taught me that we don't earn grace; it is given.

We don't earn Christmas gifts either-never mind Santa's mythical list.

The letter-writer's comments prompted a surge of letters, none of which supported his position. And, reported the jail chaplain, donors gave twice as much as last year.

So, with a sigh of relief, and prayers for at least some global solutions, let's close the book on 2006.

But let's forward those good stories to this new year, kind of like sourdough starter, so we can keep the goodness burbling, feed it and watch it grow.

Mary Koch is caregiver for her husband John E. Andrist, a stroke survivor. They welcome your comments at P.O. Box 3346, Omak WA 98841 or e-mail marykoch@marykoch.com. Recent columns are on the Internet at www.marykoch.com.