Listen and help, O God. I’m reduced to a whine and a whimper, obsessed with feelings of doomsday. Psalm 64:1 (MSG)
I’m in a period of life in which I’ve reduced that amount of time I spend watching and listening to news programs and news magazines. I have, at times, been a news junkie. I’d have the radio or television (or both) tuned to a news channel during almost every waking hour. Now, I’d rather tune the radio to my favorite music. I’ve been enjoying learning about art history on the arts channel. I couldn’t take it any more.
I’ve become fed up with fear and doomsday. Like the psalmist, I felt my spirit slowly being reduced to a whine and a whimper. The news feed, news ticker, news talk, news radio, news channel was a constant source for anxiety. Every fabric of society is falling apart. Everything I eat, wear, breathe, or touch causes cancer. I’d better get screened for colon cancer, prostate cancer, skin cancer and brain cancer. If cancer doesn’t kill me then my cholesterol is certainly going to cause me to have a fatal heart attack (it’s a wonder I’m still alive). My children are sure to have ADD or ADHD while likely to contract one of the STDs that plauge the X, Y, and Z generations. The Earth is on a cataclysmic course towards an ice age, a meltdown, a meteor strike, a dark age, a viral epedemic, an economic depression, and a world war. Watch out for the hurricane, tornado, earthquake, radon, heat wave, drought, flood, mudslide, tidal wave, eruption and forest fire. Be on the alert for the homicidal maniac, sex offender, deadbeat who is probably living next door. I better be extra careful because my very identity is at risk. Big brother is watching and listening to everything I do and say while not doing anything to help anyone.
And so, I turned the channel or I turn it off. My decision is not to hide and be uninformed. I can inform myself in a million different ways. I’m just trying to be a better monitor of what gets input into my brain and and spirit.
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