news Archives - Owl Medicine: Shamanic Healing

A Couple More Thoughts on the News

I’m not sure if I’ve seen yet all the comments (public and private) my post yesterday spurred. That’s because I only had a few minutes this morning to even check things out on my phone.

Amazingly, I’m only just now getting online with my laptop and it’s almost midnight.

I may have given the wrong impression last night. It crossed my mind as I was writing it, but I chose not to go into more detail at the time. I’m not sure, but it may have been a sad attempt at avoiding controversy, which is kind of dumb – especially since the actual name of my blog is Ruffled Feathers.

My News History

So let me just set the record straight:

First and probably foremost, I believe the last time I watched good ol’, actual ‘old-style’ network news was during 9/11 and a few days in its aftermath. And that was only to glean as much information as I could from a comforting, what I perceived then to be a reliable source in that moment.

Prior to and post 9/11, as my boys were growing up, we watched ‘the news’ pretty much never. This was vastly different than watching tv while I was growing up, with the John Facendas of local news at 6:00 p.m. and either Huntley and Brinkley or, of course, Walter Cronkite at 7:00 p.m., as dependable as clockwork against the backdrop of my parents and their obligatory after-work cocktail with crackers and cheese.

Ugh, I remember wishing my father would come home late and not kick me off the tv. I always had to turn Star Trek off and it was such a bummer. Of course, that was back in the day when all the good stuff I wanted to watch was on the ‘UHF’ channels of 17, 29, and 48. These three much more static-y and hard to tune in just right channels featured much more of the stuff I wanted to watch than the standard channels of 3, 6, and 10. If I’m not mistaken, channel 48 had Roller Derby. And Ultra Man.

But when Daddy got home, the television became his domain. So news it was.

Post-Marriage News Habits

On the other hand, when our guys were growing up, I do not remember watching news. In fact, I don’t remember watching much tv at all. Most of the programs I remember from their growing up years were cartoons like Power Rangers, He-Man, and Ren & Stimpy. (Yes, Ren & Stimpy. I’ve always shared a gross and some might say vulgar sense of humor with my sons.)

We also watched some of the classic night time tv shows ‘of the day,’ like Cheers and Roseanne and Murphy Brown. I remember watching the very first episode of the Simpsons, too. Hard to believe that’s still cranking out new episodes. The damn series outlived my son. Doesn’t seem right.

Another favorite to watch with my kids was Pee-Wee’s Playhouse on Saturday mornings. By the time my youngest son came along, we actually owned a VCR. So we ended up watching more movies than ever. Lion King and Toy Story were two of the best, with the dialogue-less The Snowman being one that always made me choke up.

All this to say: news via television was not a staple in our home. We did read the local newspaper and magazines.

My Current Sense of Responsibility

So when I say I feel a sense of responsibility to watch the news, I should clarify that I pretty much mean what’s going on politically. And to put a further point on that, I do feel it is my responsibility to watch some of this so that I am a well-informed voter. And to that end, since I am basically engaging in a form of tele-viewing confession, I like watching Rachel Maddow, because she goes into such depth in her stories. She puts current events into historical context in ways no other shows of that nature do. I have learned a ton of history by watching her program.

The slippery slope for me is watching the shows either before or after hers. It can get addictive. And it can become enraging or upsetting or a whole smörgåsbord of adrenalin-or-despair inducing emotions. As in everything, therefore, moderation is the key.

I whole-heartedly endorse a strict abstention from 99% of local news (not counting what you might read in print or may hear on the radio). And I feel NPR is a wonderful resource; I’m just not in my car all that often anymore, now that I no longer have a long daily commute.

While I try to limit my consumption of articles on the internet, I do confess to having subscriptions to the New York Times and a couple other publications. I try to be well-rounded (and open-minded), and even more importantly, careful not to read or pass along garbage.

The bottom line, however, is that I do feel a responsibility to remain aware and informed. NOT inflamed. And NOT propagandized (which is tough in this climate).

But every once in a while, it is a delight to completely and totally ignore what’s going on in Washington D.C., or Harrisburg, or around the world. Especially since there is a lot happening that weighs heavily on all of us. At least those of us who are paying attention.

Which I have a sneaking feeling includes most of you.

(T-983)

March Sunset – Photo: L. Weikel

Responsibility

I have a confession to make. I feel as though I’ve shirked a responsibility that I take quite seriously. And yet, the act itself harkens back to a different time in our my life.

Tonight, Karl and I chose to refrain from watching any news on television.

Perhaps that sounds weird. I suppose it’s possible for people to be living life without paying much attention to what’s happening on the national and international stage. But for me? That feels irresponsible.

Actually, I’m feeling a swing of reactions, from a calm sense of relief that I’m not immersed in the world of politics and upsetting news of violence and hate crimes that seem more apropos of Escape from LA than it should be to live in the world in March 2019, to a foreboding sense of moral responsibility.

I’m pretty sure I’ve written about this before. It may have been another evening when I allowed myself to indulge in the sweetness of silence by turning off our television. Yes indeed, I’m pretty sure I even called my post Evening Silence.

Not One Minute Today

Tonight is a little different than that night. In fact, while I haven’t kept meticulous track of my viewing habits, I bet this is the first weeknight I’ve not watched even one minute of news since I began my 1111 Devotion back in November. Wait. That might not be precisely true. The holidays of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, and possibly Thanksgiving, I think I may have abstained as well. But holidays are like weekends: major world or life events that demand our attention just aren’t supposed to happen on those days.

Of course, we all know that’s not true; it’s not reality. But we pretend it is.

As a result, as a direct consequence of that pretending, I rarely think twice about what’s going on “out there” on weekends and holidays.

But wow. Today is a regular workday. It is a day that falls on the heels of some wretched events that simply make me want to weep. We are being forced to contemplate the nth degree of cruelty that humans inflict upon each other. And it’s happening over and over again, seemingly day after day. And it hurts.

Have I Hit My Saturation Point?

I’m a bit concerned that I’m reaching my saturation point. That concerns me, because it feels like succumbing to that sense of precipitous overload is playing directly into a nefarious agenda. An agenda being set by those who would have us live lives based in fear rather than on love and compassion.

It will be interesting to see how Karl and I choose to spend our evening tomorrow. Will we make it two weeknights in a row without watching the news? I doubt it.

I guess we’ll see.

In the meantime, I feel my responsibility in this moment is to not watch the news. Rather, it is to do whatever I need to do to keep the faith. To hold the center for anyone or anything I can, in order to help us all survive this onslaught of division, fear, and yes – terror.

Holding Our Center – In Grief – With Ritual and Respect

To that end, in case you haven’t seen this gut-wrenching and culturally unique (but pan-cultural in its impact upon us when we witness it) tribute to the grief being felt in New Zealand, I am offering it here.

I dare you to watch this young man and not be moved. I challenge you to witness these students performing this ancient ritual and not sense our common knowing, deep within our bones, that what is happening to one country or culture is happening to us all.

It is our responsibility to feel the tears of our souls, even if they express themselves as a lump in our throat or a clenching in our stomach. No matter how the tears show up for you, feel them. It is our responsibility – to ourselves and to each other.

(T-984)