News

News got ya down? It does me. But at a personal level, I’m well and grateful. That kind of takes the edge off the news, takes the sting out. The news is still ‘bad’ but, it doesn’t hurt as much and seems less personal. I can get some perspective on it. That reminds me of what Don Miguel Ruiz said: “Even when a situation seems so personal, even if others insult you directly, it has nothing to do with you.” Wow! That has meaning on so many levels.

First, don’t take it personally – even if it is – ‘cause when we do, we lose perspective and with it, our ability to respond and make things better. Second, its really not about you, it’s about them. Sure you and I are complicit in the oil disaster in the Gulf in that we rely on inefficient, non-renewable, polluting forms of energy. But we weren’t cutting corners, avoiding safety rules and taking unnecessary risks running a deep sea oil rig. I also feel complicit at a life style level and on a community level because I could do more to get Congress to regulate properly. But my real failure, and perhaps yours as well, is the failure to stay centered and connected to spirit; my real failure is that I feel guilty about what I’m not doing, get angry to cover my guilt and project it out and seek to blame.

Not that blame isn’t warranted: eleven people are dead along with countless innocent animals and plants and an entire eco system is likely to be destroyed, perhaps for our life times. No, blame and punishment have a place, but I need to deal with them from a centered connected place. I need to manage my guilt on my own and with spirit’s help, not make the error real, not take it personally and realize that on the everyday level, it has, as Don Miguel Ruiz said, nothing to do with me.

I can also understand that at this point in time in American and Western culture, the so-called news in all its forms: web, print, radio, TV, seeks to do just the opposite. The point of the news now seems to be to inflame and provoke. Gathering facts and sharing information, encouraging rationality and dialogue instead of inflaming prejudices takes second place. There are organizations and people who just love to talk trash.

They want to be first to bring the doom and gloom, to describe in great detail what went wrong and whose to blame. They always point out the negative side of everything. They are like garbage trucks. They load up with negativity and when they’re full, need to dump it somewhere, usually on us. But we can refuse to take their garbage personally. We can know that pure spirit is at the center of all form, always responding to our thoughts. Either we dwell on the garbage and create more garbage, or we dwell on goodness and create more goodness.

This is not about denial or wishful thinking, garbage is garbage. Its about being responsible and centered and learning from our mistakes. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Shame on us for trusting corporations to care more for the environment than they do for profits. Shame on us for not seeing that we have the best government money can buy. Shame on us for not taking responsibility and making our democracy stand up for our environment and not honestly building a world that works for everyone. Shame on us! Enough garbage; As Paddy Chayevsky said, I’ve had enough; I’m sick and tired of it and I’m not going to take anymore.