- October 11, 2017
- 3:55 pm
- Al Gini
- no comments
Enough Already!
I can’t take any more bad news and bad headlines: “Houston Underwater”; “Hurricanes in Florida”; “Earthquakes in Mexico City”; “Puerto Rico’s Infrastructure Destroyed”; “Tropical Storm Nate to Hit New Orleans”; “Racial Hatred in Myanmar”; “North Korea tests H-Bomb”; “58 Dead in Las Vegas”. And the list goes on and on!
Catastrophe, tragedy, madness, murder, compound/complex political stupidity – at times I’m afraid to turn on the TV/radio or check my smart devices.
The litany of natural disasters and human cruelty seems non-stop. Every day yet another spectacular spectacle of loss, death and disaster dominates the news cycle.
I don’t want to seem overly Pollyannaish, but I’m sick of staggering statistics about tragedies around the world; pictures of body bags on the front page of newspapers; details about the intense cruelties that we have inflicted on one another. Lend lives about murder and murderers.
Instead of this I think we should have two sets of headlines and broadcasts each day: Besides the usual “bad news”, the other will be the “good news” of the day. There will be stories about “good things”, “happy things”. For example:
“Ellen Smith, won her first Apple Pie Baking Contest”; “A Group of Girl Scots Spent Time at a Senior Citizens Home”; “Johnny Grasso’s First Attempt of Brewing Homemade Wine was a Complete Success”; “A lot of People Laughed and Smiled Today!” – Ok, so I am being ridiculously Pollyannaish, but here’s my point:
William James argued that we have to think and act ourselves into being happy, content and well balanced. In other words, we need to hear more “good news”, “happy news”, “inspiring news” – if we are to have a chance of overcoming the “dark side” of life.
I know, I know the “dark side” is real and unavoidable. I’m not saying, we should be like an ostrich and bury our heads in the sand.
But I do believe the news dwells too, too much on the “dark side”. We need to also pay attention to the blessings and beauty in life as well. And maybe if we are lucky, “Beauty” can, at least for a while hold off the beast, the “dark side”, and possibly even curtail it! If we are to retain our sanity, I think we need both seriousness and silliness in our lives.
Photo: Vectors