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| Photo Credit: Creative Commons Adam Roberts |
I have friends who don’t do news. At all. I could ask opinions about terrorist shootings in Kenya or government shutdowns or crack addicted mayors and I get a blank stare in response.
It’s not like I’m all news/all the time. I have no patience for our local news. (“Is your tap water killing you? The answer…when we come back.)
CNN, MSNBC, and FOXNews are an entertainment joke to me. (Whatever happened to Headline News where all top stories scrolled through a ten minute loop?)
Print is out, internet is in which can be frustrating to dig through as well.
Jon Stewart is a genius, but…well, there is no “but”. However, some claim his is a “comedy show” and not “real news”. Whatever.
I get it, but I still believe its important to know what’s going on in the world around us. It keeps us from being even more self-focused than we already are.
Which is why I’ve been so disappointed in myself lately. Last week (or the week before? or 2 weeks before?) news of another shooting came across my news feed. I couldn’t even click on it. Somewhere, someone’s child died unnecessarily and I didn’t allow myself to acknowledge it.
The health care fiasco is in my face every danged day. Edd works for a health insurance company. I don’t need outside sources to tell me what to think. I’ve got a first hand account coming to me every day at 6:00 pm.
Devastation in the Philippines, how could I ignore that? My heart has not hardened completely. When I read the stories and see the need for help my soul cries out for them. What can I do? I can send money. I can pray. Is that enough? In self preserving my own feelings I read less, I watch less, because the feeling of helplessness is too much.
And I’m stuck in my first world, spoiled nature. I protect my emotional state by shutting off the news and sticking my head in the sand like an ostrich.
What would someone with the nature of a servant do? My guess is she would pack her bags and get to the Philippines stat to help those poor, dying children. Or she would organize a fundraising drive in her own town, sending many dollars for aid. At the very least, she would tell her children about the severe havoc and lead them in prayer.
I haven’t talked with my kids in the last month about shootings, affordable health care, or typhoons. Guarding my own emotions means I’m holding current events from them.
What’s the answer? Do we shut off all news and live in the small environment we create for ourselves? Do we leave the TV on all evening listening to the same stories of rape, murder, and starving?
How do you balance the horrors of the world with the beauty and good surrounding us every day?
Wow. I need to think about your question at the end. Honestly, I don't know how to do it well right now. There's safety in not clicking, in not watching, and sometimes I think that's okay for me. But other times? I know I just don't want to feel any more ache because as much as I talk about the need for more compassion in the world, I don't always want to feel the pain that comes with practicing it, and that part isn't okay. Great post, Andee.