"Like cold water to a weary soul, So is good news from a distant land." -- Proverbs, 25:25I wonder how many people wake up of late, thinking like I do, that is, wondering what new Chicken Little/Henny Penny doom and gloom news will splash them in the face, reminding them, yet again, just how bad things currently are the national and global economy.
I actually find that I'm now apprehensive about turning on NPR or CNN (even moreso) for fear of more depressing “breaking news.” Some people I've talked to report that they've just stopped listening altogether. Well, I'm not good at burying my head in the sand, unfortunately.
Day 50: This just in…”the Dow is down another 80 points, plunging close to 21% since President Obama’s Inauguration.” Day 46: The jobless rate is the highest in 27 years. People are losing their homes (circa 2007). Some are living in tents. The rate at which the earth is radically changing is much faster than previously thought. Ah yes, and "enough already" Michelle Obama needs to “put away her thunder and lighting” bi-ceps (maybe she's hot?!well, she is HOT, but maybe she's hot).
The news media and journalists compound the problem, daily contributing to our malaise by pounding to a pulp, like a cacophony of dissonant hammers, even a molecule of hope or promise we might be trying (desperately) to cling to. And some of us are so (foolishly) intrepid that we will even publicly admit that we want our newly elected President to fail. So, if I’m hearing this correctly, we want the U.S. to continue its slide into the moniker of a nation of losers?
I’m nearly despondent now and afraid to hear the next installment in this Grapes of Wrath saga. If you’re listening out there, contrary to popular belief bad news is not necessarily good business. It just makes me want to hear you less, watch you less, listen to YOU less. In fact, I experimented with that idea last week, electing not to poison my already fragile attitude by commencing my day (or my evenings for that matter) with little to no news, except what was essential for work. I did just fine and I definitely felt better.
I’ve become exhausted reading and/or listening to the biting criticism, the bile, the negativity. Isn't there there any good news out there?
RIDDLE ME THIS...
I actually find that I'm now apprehensive about turning on NPR or CNN (even moreso) for fear of more depressing “breaking news.” Some people I've talked to report that they've just stopped listening altogether. Well, I'm not good at burying my head in the sand, unfortunately.
Day 50: This just in…”the Dow is down another 80 points, plunging close to 21% since President Obama’s Inauguration.” Day 46: The jobless rate is the highest in 27 years. People are losing their homes (circa 2007). Some are living in tents. The rate at which the earth is radically changing is much faster than previously thought. Ah yes, and "enough already" Michelle Obama needs to “put away her thunder and lighting” bi-ceps (maybe she's hot?!well, she is HOT, but maybe she's hot).
The news media and journalists compound the problem, daily contributing to our malaise by pounding to a pulp, like a cacophony of dissonant hammers, even a molecule of hope or promise we might be trying (desperately) to cling to. And some of us are so (foolishly) intrepid that we will even publicly admit that we want our newly elected President to fail. So, if I’m hearing this correctly, we want the U.S. to continue its slide into the moniker of a nation of losers?
I’m nearly despondent now and afraid to hear the next installment in this Grapes of Wrath saga. If you’re listening out there, contrary to popular belief bad news is not necessarily good business. It just makes me want to hear you less, watch you less, listen to YOU less. In fact, I experimented with that idea last week, electing not to poison my already fragile attitude by commencing my day (or my evenings for that matter) with little to no news, except what was essential for work. I did just fine and I definitely felt better.
I’ve become exhausted reading and/or listening to the biting criticism, the bile, the negativity. Isn't there there any good news out there?
RIDDLE ME THIS...
Yes, we are in a recession, depression, economic downturn/crisis, -- a nightmare, what have you.
We’re tired of bail outs, losing our homes, our jobs, our healthcare, our peace of mind. But have we forgotten what we only barely ‘survived’ intact the ethics and antics of the last 8 years? Have we forgotten how we arrived here in the first place? This country is in a shambles. Where was the “outrage” then as we simply sat silent as it was being pulled apart brick by brick right before our very eyes?
Sure we want some sign of a recovery despite all previous warnings to the contrary that it was going to get worse, before it got better. We all heard it, “recovery won’t happen over night." We all acknowledged the challenges ahead, but we’re angry we opine and we’re just not seeing the results. The blame abounds! “Tonight, we report on the new FILL-IN-THE-BLANK outrage. “Change we can believe in is hoopla,” it’s business as usual, surmised one CNN correspondent. “We want more leadership from this President!” Well, last I recall, we re-elected one who clearly wasn’t a monument to this assumption and we kept him along with his renegade buddies, anyway. Why didn’t we stop, then, what was clearly a runaway train?
They wanted no rules. De-regulate it all! Only unfettered markets (read: greed) will spur economic growth (for the top 1-2% perhaps). If you think about it, former financier, Bernard Madoff currently represents the epitome of thinking in this country toward the powerful, privileged and very monied, toward what happens (or rather doesn’t) to those who rip off the livelihoods of others, namely the middle-class and the poor. Caught and placed under house-arrest, Mr. Madoff continues to live in the lap of luxury smiling smugly at the cameras while he gets his affairs (and remaining hidden assets?) in order. Where is the outrage there? Similar to the wall street (little "w" little "s") and auto industry bailout, they’ve gotten their payoff, their bonuses, and "We the People?" well, we will get the bill, to manifest itself in increased taxes and looks like have we may even have to pay for it in cutbacks in public security amongst other essentials (according to today's news reports).
Our emotions seem to run from he’s not doing enough to is he doing too much, we now worry "he's over-extending himself." I believe President Obama said it first, and we all welcomed his frame of mind that "It's going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once.” So maybe he can actually walk and chew gum at the same time, as my mother would say. However, I can just hear it now, if he does just focus on the economy, the cry will probably then be something along the lines of ‘but what about all your other campaign promises.’
Obama became President riding a wave of much needed hope in this country with his “Yes We Can” mantra. He did that in the face of incredible odds. We helped him. That, in itself, I believe is testimony in support the notion that we can overcome these many crisis currently rocking the world. Hope and believing in the possibilities are powerful, ultimately, and so much more attractive than the alternative. A tiny chicken named Chicken Little cried, "the sky is falling" and Henny Penny, and Ducky Daddles, and Goosey Loosey all agreed. But what about The Little Engine that Could, that children's tale that serves as a metaphor for the American (no, everyone's) Dream teaching us the value of optimism ( I-think-I-can! I-think-I-can!). What about trying that one for a 'change?'
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