My personal concept of ‘hardships’ shifted again with Haiti disaster
It’s easy, for me anyway, to get so caught up in my life, my family, … “me, me, me” … that I lose sight of people in my world and the world in general who suffer real hardships.
But I think my personal concept of the whole idea of “hardships” shifted once again following the earthquakes and ensuing disasters in Haiti.
I am struck every time I see television coverage of the suffering nation and all that the people are enduring just to stay alive. Think about this aspect of it: The initial quake that caused most of the devastating death and destruction lasted for around 30 seconds, as I understand it. Can you imagine your world changing in such fashion in half a minute??
It’s so easy to be caught up in our lives that we lose sight of the important things. I watch some of the commercials on television and heart pitches on the radio for everything from weight loss pills and skin creams to hair supplements and anti-aging schemes. And the good folks working hard to sell me such products really want to create an urgency in my heart, something that will motivate me emotionally to buy their product or service because I feel or see that it will solve some problem I have, or think I have.
Then something like the earthquake in Haiti comes along and suddenly I realize my problems are pretty small and not all that bad.
If you’re going through a tough time or hardship, I do not mean in any way to minimize that. Personally, my family and I are going through a serious situation right now. But my family and I, and perhaps you, too, can take heart and be thankful that we aren’t (probably not, anyway) being challenged to deal with hardships such as those in Haiti.
Then, out of gratitude or sympathy for the Haitians, or for whatever reason, we can give of our time and our money (no matter how much or how little) to reputable charities and aid organizations to help the folks of Haiti. That’s what I would encourage you to do however and whenever you can.
Simply taking a break from all the bad news — or is it denial?
I’ve simply been taking a break from all the bad economic news lately — or am I perhaps really just living in denial?
Nope, not denial, but, yes, I’ve worked at avoiding a good deal of the online and television news in recent weeks. My son, who has lost about half of his investment portfolio since September/October 2008 started the stock market downward plunge, puts the matter very plainly: Most of the downward plunge of the market right now is based on nothing “real” or rational — it’s a really awful blend of stupidity and panic. I suspect he’s right; and I suspect much of the stupidity and panic is fed by the media.
As a former “news guy” of sorts (I worked as a newspaper copy editor for seven years and taught college level news writing for four semesters), I’m almost addicted to news. Our blossoming 24/7 flood of “news” on cable and on the Internet is very hard for me to resist. But I noticed in recent months that the constant barrage of “the sky is falling, the sky is falling” lame excuse for economic/national “news” has done nothing but make me feel as though the sun had stopped shining and doom/gloom were everywhere.
How refreshing it is, then, to keep my web browser away from Google News and Yahoo News, and to turn the cable TV to some of the many wonderful digital music channels as I work. And the amazing thing is this: Life goes on for me and my family pretty much as it has for the last several years, only with less of the fear and loathing that was bombarding us since last fall.
I highly recommend you give the media a rest for a few days. The world will PROBABLY still be there when you decide to reopen the browser and turn the TV back on.
What an amazing presidential election this was for all!
How exciting — Americans have elected the first African-American president, just 40 years after the nation lost Martin Luther King Jr.
As someone who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, frankly, I never thought I would see a black person elected president in my lifetime. I remember telling my wife about 9 or 10 years ago that Colin Powell looked likely to be the first black president, but that I honestly doubted America would ever overcome widespread, latent racism enough in our lifetimes to see such a thing happen.
Happily, I was wrong!
I don’t know or care for whom you voted. That’s the beauty of our democracy. You can vote for the candidate of your choice and so can I. What I really DO care about is that you and I can get together, do anything and everything we can to support our current president and our newly elected president to make this a better nation and even a better world.
As I write these words I see horrendous economic problems dominating the news. We have lost more than 1 million jobs in America since January 1, 2008. We will probably lose many thousand more before things get better. Truly times are hard, and just getting by from day to day is getting harder for many.
Regardless of your politics or how you feel about the outcome of our elections, work and, yes, pray for better times ahead!
‘Real Subliminal’ products
