Manipulating the News

I don't usually look at TV news, especially just before I go to bed, but the night of the subway bombings in London I did. Big mistake. After the coverage of the tragedy in England, the station showed preparations etc. in the U.S., mostly NY-NJ, including a politician who described how under-funded and dangerous his own area is (so narrow no one would ever be able to get out alive--to paraphrase.) It's always amazing to me how much information we're willing to give terrorists. I guess we don't think they read the papers or watch the news.

The next story told about police officers who murdered eight or nine people for the mob. I turned the set off when it was followed by a hit and run in which a flower girl was killed. Enough--too much--please Lord, have mercy on our world and its people.

When events threaten to overpower me with sadness and fear I pray--I'm Christian--it's what I do--then I flip the messenger on its back and pummel all the good I can out of it.

Radio news and talk shows get to be too much--I turn on classical music and channel my emotions into a symphony by Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, or Dvorak (his Noon-day Witch and Watergoblin give fear a real workout!) Or. Light FM. Nothing's better than singing It's Rainin' Men with the Weather Girls.

TV's harder to deal with. For one thing, during a tragedy they beat you senseless with repetition. Pictures get burned into memory like acid on metal and the problem is it's hard to pull away. But I do. Eventually. Mindless comedies don't cut it for me, so I turn to PBS, or if there's a good drama on, I'll try that.

Computers work better than anything. I've been brushing up on my high school French at about.com, so for practice I go to Yahoo France, Canada, or Switzerland and try to read the same story I've been hearing all day in French. It's surprising how the mindset changes when it has to struggle to translate paragraphs into passable English.

Maybe that's the whole key to staying sane. Read and listen to the news only in a language you don't completely understand. And don't look at the pictures.

Prayers for England

My heart breaks for the British people after yesterday's tragedy. My sadness today is for you--my prayers for your dead and injured and all who love and mourn them, my thoughts for your rescue workers, and my hope for your leaders. God's blessings to all of you. Have courage.