On my good days I don't read the news. Sounds odd. Don't I want to be informed about what is happening in this world? No, not really. "Information is power". Really? How?
The news is everywhere. I can view it on my phone in a coffee shop, or look to the column at the right on my Facebook feed and see what's 'trending'. Or even better, I can see the human horror show right in the center of my Facebook feed through my friends and 'friends' I've never met. It's a drug that is available 24/7 no matter where I am. I get to be reminded of how embarrassing humanity is. People fighting over bits of colored rags we call flags with our silly salutes and all that. People killing over words written by drunk and tripping people thousands of years ago.
But information it power right? I need to stay informed right? How can I be a good citizen by not participating? Well, like I said on my good days I don't. It dawned on me the other morning that by reading the news, I may be contributing to the horror show. The low is how I get high. It harms me. There is nothing I can do about a person whose mind is warped and manipulated into a pattern deep enough to blow oneself up in a crowded market. There is nothing I can do about a horrible policeman who beat a man or woman to death. If it's in the news it has already happened. I'm well aware already, I don't need to be hit over the head again and again with the horror show. I already have the information. It's on repeat. It happens daily again and again.
What I can do is just do my best to be a decent human being. Be kind to strangers. Love as much as I can from where I stand right now. Oh it may be futile and maybe I'm totally delusional but hey, the other way hasn't worked out at all. I'd be insane to think things will change by staying glued to the information parade. I do that and I get depressed, cranky, argumentative, righteous and I'm less capable of being kind to the rest of you. In that small 'butterfly flapping it's wings in China' way I've contributed to the violence in this world. That is no way to exist.
I think it was Mother Theresa who once said she would never attend an anti war rally but if there were a pro peace rally she'd be there. I love that.
J
The news is everywhere. I can view it on my phone in a coffee shop, or look to the column at the right on my Facebook feed and see what's 'trending'. Or even better, I can see the human horror show right in the center of my Facebook feed through my friends and 'friends' I've never met. It's a drug that is available 24/7 no matter where I am. I get to be reminded of how embarrassing humanity is. People fighting over bits of colored rags we call flags with our silly salutes and all that. People killing over words written by drunk and tripping people thousands of years ago.
But information it power right? I need to stay informed right? How can I be a good citizen by not participating? Well, like I said on my good days I don't. It dawned on me the other morning that by reading the news, I may be contributing to the horror show. The low is how I get high. It harms me. There is nothing I can do about a person whose mind is warped and manipulated into a pattern deep enough to blow oneself up in a crowded market. There is nothing I can do about a horrible policeman who beat a man or woman to death. If it's in the news it has already happened. I'm well aware already, I don't need to be hit over the head again and again with the horror show. I already have the information. It's on repeat. It happens daily again and again.
What I can do is just do my best to be a decent human being. Be kind to strangers. Love as much as I can from where I stand right now. Oh it may be futile and maybe I'm totally delusional but hey, the other way hasn't worked out at all. I'd be insane to think things will change by staying glued to the information parade. I do that and I get depressed, cranky, argumentative, righteous and I'm less capable of being kind to the rest of you. In that small 'butterfly flapping it's wings in China' way I've contributed to the violence in this world. That is no way to exist.
I think it was Mother Theresa who once said she would never attend an anti war rally but if there were a pro peace rally she'd be there. I love that.
J
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