Yes, there has been ugliness and tragedy in Charlotte, North Carolina this week. This is most certainly true. And, if you want to get up to speed on it and what happened, why it happened, how it happened — by all means click here. The coverage seems endless.

It also seems endlessly dark and grim.

There’s an old saying in the news biz, from back when newspapers were king: “If it bleeds, it leads.” Meaning, of course, that if there’s violence involved in a story, people become rubberneckers by nature and can’t resist to read such a gory account. So, it went first. And “lead.” Today, while the media has changed, the philosophy hasn’t. Which is why you’ve seen nothing but negative stuff coming out of Charlotte this week. That’s how the story biz rolls in America these days.

It’s a shame though, because it doesn’t offer up the other side — the less juicy (and yikes! bloody) side.

Like this snapshot the other night during the protests, where a protester went up to a bunch of National Guardsmen and paid them respect — and vice versa.

It’s what America is all about …

This protester shook the hands of the National Guard soldiers as he walked by pic.twitter.com/yaiafiBSBY