Count Your Blessings, Not Your Problems?


Multiple terrorist attacks have happened in various countries across the globe in the past couple of months. From Mali to France, news of death, hostages, bombs, and just general devastation have flooded our social media, news, and conversations. I am ashamed to admit it, but I have turned my head to all of it. 

I live in a world, I don't understand. 

For the longest time, and maybe even now, I was okay with the ignorance is bliss motion. It served me well since I was able to maintain my naive perception of the world. Anyone who knows me, knows I hate watching the news. I feel as if there is never anything positive on, and furthermore, I feel the more we watch it, the more paranoid we get about the world around us. The last thing I want to do is go through life thinking everyone has an alternative agenda, and is out to get me. I'd like to think that most people are innately good, and that there are just some rotten tomatoes among us. Of course, I do not have children, and really only have to care for myself, so maintaining this blissful ignorance has been really pretty darn easy thus far.

Other than maintaining my rainbow perception of the world, the news also just plain overwhelms me because of the many intricacies (especially in world news). Years (gosh, sometimes centuries) of history, rivalries, discord- among countries and peoples, that I can't seem to keep up with. Who hates who, and why they hate them, and who fought with who, and who is allies now...it boggles my mind. And even when I attempt to try and understand, I give up within a couple of google searches. Who is a trusted source, who is non biased, what agenda does the reporter/news agency have? How do I know the information is accurate? How do I know the information is comprehensive? And finally, does anyone really even know the true story?

I tried to look up ISIS the other day. I wanted to attempt to learn more about the organization and what exactly they stood for. The search left me confused, disturbed, and frankly a little scared I would be tagged for my search by some big brother entity. I gave up feeling more at unease than when I had began my search.

I wonder if other people feel the same way I do about our world affairs, the way we communicate them, and the way it impacts our psyche? Something has got to change, no one should be exposed this much devastation and general unpleasantness from just watching the evening news or one CNN.com scan. Back in the day, news was isolated. Up until a century ago, most people probably didn't know what happening outside the confines of their own state/country. Perhaps that was healthier. Healthier doses of bad news, instead of a seemingly constant bombardment of just awful happenings has got to be better. How can one handle news of child trafficking in Malaysia, starvation in East Africa, Climate change in our poles, and god knows what else in one sitting? Or if we need to make all this news accessible (which is there really any other choice?), we need to do a better job showcasing all the good in this world. Because I genuinely believe, positivity invokes positivity, and vice versa. Positive news can inspire, can lead by example, and I honestly think, change our national psyche.

I haven't figured out a game plan yet, because I know as much as I want to be an informed citizen, I am not ready to face the horrors in our news on the daily. But blissful ignorance is not an option I can sustain forever either, so I am seriously hoping a solution comes to me soon :/



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