Give us a break, guys

Give us a break guys…

I find myself getting a little depressed these days in spite of being an optimistic character.  There may be many obvious reasons for this; the economic disaster, climate change, terrorist activity, piracy on the high seas, to name a few.

However  I think the problem is the media and the disproportionate amount of truly horrific news that we read about or view every day.  That’s why I say ‘give us a break guys.

A few generations ago the news was local, much of it word of mouth.  I expect that most of it was bad news even in those days, but it came in gossip size bites.  Some of it was relieved with tears, or helped with sympathy in word or deed. 

Now the news comes from all around the world. It is explicit, it is overwhelming, it is impossible to come to grips with and too horrible to contemplate in many cases.  I do not want to have my breakfast every morning looking at pools of blood in Afghanistan  or see armies on the march beside their nuclear weapons.  I don’t want to see starving children with flies in their eyes, women keening over loved ones, bomb wreckage in the streets, shoes blown off  feet.  Spare us that.

Of should not expect or want to live with our heads in the sand.  We need to know what is going on in the world we live in, even the grisly details sometimes, but give us a break guys.  How about one day a week when the bulk of the news and all the headlines are of good news?

I know about wicked deeds, I want to know more about the good ones.  I believe that human nature is good, and self sacrificial and kind.  Show us more of this, give us a chance to hope, a little light in a dark tunnel.  A day of rest from bedlam. 

Tell us about ways in which we can give help the needy by interviewing people who have hands on experience. Show us ways in which we can do more to offset global warming, practical ways of lowering our carbon footprint.  Challenge us into action instead of depressing us into inertia.  Just once a  week, is that too much to ask?

Do it before we all become hard hearted enough to accept that some have it rough but ‘I’m all right, Jack’.  In your enthusiasm to get the news to the people be aware that too much of a bad thing can turn us bad too, so that we can view the grossest of things without batting an eyelid.  How far should you lead us down that path? Give us a break guys, before we lose our humanity!