Dear Editor,
I’m burned out watching the news. I don’t enjoy feeling like I want to throw up. There has to be more to life than taking in the world headlines every morning and every evening. However, I have to pause and give thanks because I’m not part of the news story. I don’t want to be because news is typically bad.
When you turn on the morning or evening news the first few minutes is filled with all the bad news in the world and your area. Innocent people in Israel being ripped apart by hate-filled religious terrorists. Innocent civilians in Gaza are dying every day. Another mentally ill gunman kills innocent people in Maine. A category five hurricane wipes out Acapulco. Congress finally agrees on a Speaker. Surely, we are glad if we are not part of the news story. Being in the news typically means something bad is going on. You don’t want to be in an active shooter situation or being attacked by terrorists.
A friend of mine has said, “I don’t watch the news, it’s too depressing.” Depressing is probably a reasonable word. Yet, be glad that you weren’t in the news because that would be more depressing.
If you are like me, you are probably ready for a break from all the bad news. You can turn off your television and your computer and move throughout your day. Just hope that along the way that nothing bad happens around you. There are crazy people almost everywhere it seems. Drugs are flowing in this country. Drug related deaths are rampant. Violent drivers are on our highways. Road rage violence happens somewhere every day in this country. The mentally ill have access to semi-automatic rifles. Hate-filled people live throughout our country. The desperate and hurting are everywhere. Hate-filled religious terrorists are not just isolated people living in the Middle East. Some of them probably live not far from you.
You can be minding your own business and living the good American citizen’s life and still have something bad happen to you. At every level there is a new devil. It just takes a crazy person to make news happen and unfortunately you can be in the right place at the wrong time to become part of the news story.
So, while many of us are tired of the bad news, let’s try to be grateful for every day that we somehow, by the grace of God, miss being a part of the news.
Dr. Glenn Mollette
