Barack Obama has already changed my life. A scant 3-4 months ago I was all business as usual when it came to the news. I would duck dodge and avoid. I was even known to “hate the news”. I had (and still do actually) the notion that The News should be called The Bad News. I don’t suppose people in the industry of reporting What’s Going On have realised the level of negativity they choose to talk about versus positivity.
And when they do report on things with a positive bent, they have this air of incredulity and amazement. Like they’ve just unearthed a puzzling fossil at a dig site. Puhleez. So with me having enough personal issues going on, watching the news was last on my list. I would glean What Was Going On simply from the teaser bytes that were unavoidable as I tuned into my shows on network TV. You know, the “tune in at 10pm blah blah after CSI” type things. No thank you.
Then along comes this brash young fellow. Highly intelligent, motivated and big hearted. Dedicated to America. Back in the day even Oprah couldn’t get him to officially state he was going to run for Teh Prez. I saw Hope glimmering in her eyes when she had him on her show. Hope reflected in my own eyes. But I didn’t want to believe. I didn’t want to pull my head out of the comforting sand and perhaps get hurt again.
I can’t even begin to tell you how ouchy the previous presidential election was for me. I had actually dared to Hope a little, and had stepped beyond the usual plodding sense of duty with which I would usually vote. Only to get my hopes smashed like a bug on a windshield. It would take something completely different for me to put myself out on an emotional limb like that again.
But I was still skittish. I still didn’t dare Hope and Embrace. I didn’t think my heart could stand another trouncing. So it was with extreme trepidation that, a scant few months prior to the presidential election, I started to tune into What Was Going On. Whenever I wanted The True Skinny on a world or national situation that was too important to duck and dodge: I would turn to CNN. I mean that was THE place to get the news.
So I did. I also surfed youtube and listened in on the many speeches that Obama had given along the campaign trail. Speeches I’d missed because I just wasn’t allowing myself to Hope and Believe. I had planned to go vote in person, rather than send my ballot in early and all that. I also wanted to be a part of History, and vote exactly on that Tuesday, and move through Space and Time and have physical actions that I could remember doing forever: no matter what the outcome. So I did.
You see I still wasn’t allowing myself to Open My Heart and Hope and Believe that Change could possibly happen; even on election night, as I sat in front of my TV and watched. The feelings that went through me when it began to become evident that Barack would be our next president: well they were, are and I think will forever remain indescribable.
Naturally having gone through such a momentous occasion with “my CNN” as I now call it, I have been glued to their broadcasts ever since. Like I said at the beginning of this post: Barack Obama has already Changed my life.
I tune into the news every day. I follow current events both national and international. I test my inner climate against the political, social and economic climate of the world and everybody else. Slowly I have become more and more aware of What Is Going On. I try not to regret my past ignorance. I also try not to get caught up in the minutiae that any television news program can get bogged down in, no matter how stellar their credentials. In fact, thats the easy part for me – the trivial annoys me no end. I can’t waste my time wondering about some nutso botching his own fake death when children are being killed in Gaza. Sometimes CNN needs an elbow in the ribs to get back to whats relevant.
But then that brings me back to the only remaining issue with The News. I understand that in a format that runs 24/7 like CNN does, there will be time spent on things other than the major headlining events of the world. But it still gets annoying. And it also gets annoying that The News chosen to be reported is 9 times out of 10 The Bad News.
I’m damn sure that each and every day there is an equal amount of positive actions being taken by the people of the world as there are negative actions. I understand that The News is a business like anything else, and must pay attention to supply and demand. Human beings are fascinated by drama and death and Bad Things That Happen. I have no idea why. But we are. Hence The Bad News becomes The News.
C’est la vie, and yet I’ m still addicted to CNN. Heaven help me ;)
