Hey, so I couldn’t think of a post on the weekend and was waiting for divine inspiration to descend upon my mind, or at least my keyboard. Clearly it didn’t happen. Oh well, there’s always next week.
Anyway, I have a dirty little secret. A sordid confession. I like to read the news. Actually, that’s not true: I don’t really like it. Not at all. It’s depressing and horrible and makes me feel sad, angry and helpless.
Today, I had to get up from my desk and walk away, after reading about two guys in Britain who used fanatical religious beliefs to fuel a terrible, horrible and shocking act of terrorism, in the name of God and revenge (I’m not providing a link to the story. I am not giving this backwards idea of a vengeful God who needs people to do shitty things to each other more airtime). I was shaking, from fear or from anger or disbelief, or all three, I don’t know.
How can this be our world? How can this be what people do to each other? Why? I mean, WHY? I’m so bloody tired of reading this garbage. It’s bullshit. It’s bad news. It’s bad for me. And it’s bad for you, too. Feeling anxious, stressed and angry is all kind of bad for your body.
So, you know what? I’m giving it up. No more reading the news. I have to scan medical news, for work, but no more clicking on the links up top. You know, those stories that get so much airtime, not just online, but on my heart and my mind, as they replay and wreak havoc on my perspective.
If it’s not about a miracle; if it doesn’t make my heart sing, then I’m not clicking on it. I’m done. I’m done with bad news.
I said to a childhood friend the other day, who is turning 50, that it’s an achievement to reach that age with body and mind intact in this insane world. He heartily agreed.
I have long believed in the message of your graphic, that this is a world of greater extremes that we can imagine. It helps me to remember the extremes of the good when I am faced with the bad. Shortly after the Boston Marathon terrorist attack the words of Mr. Fred Rogers began circulating. In the quote he recounted the wise words of his mother who said that when bad things happen he should look for the helpers. In today’s horrible incident, note the brave women who interceded, who put themselves between the murdered man and the attackers, who talked to these crazed, armed, bloodied men and likely prevented further attacks in the time it took the police to arrive. I feel humbled by their heroism. As Mr. Rogers and others concluded, there are many more of the good than the bad, and that is our hope.
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Thanks, Don — I LOVE that Mr. Rogers quote. It’s such a great reminder. And it’s true: It’s the courage of the humble who become unassuming heroes where we see the light and love that prevails in the heart of humanity. Like the comment from Patton Oswalt on the Boston tragedy, which was everything I forgot in the heat of my angry and scared reaction.