It’s a nice morning and the coffee and toast are ready at the same time. I turn on the morning news and the day begins. The lead stories take some of the shine from the day and I am blasted with police tape around yet another local shooting.
Behind the reporter I see fire trucks, ambulances and police cars, all staged and waiting and I think of all the personnel tied up at that scene, unable to respond to you or I and what that delayed response could mean.
I think of those First Responders and how they felt being dispatched to this alarm not knowing if active shooters were still in the area and going over protocols as they drove to the scene. For a lot of them, gunfire, meth labs or children gagging to death on illicit drugs is not what they signed up for. I try not to dwell on the rise of First Responder suicides across Canada.
Follow that story with floods and storms and hot air balloon tragedies and it is ten minutes after eight and my gut is full of death, disaster and despair.
I can continue watching or I can turn the channel.
After a couple of clicks I find Granny arguing with Mr. Drysdale in his pyjamas.
She has decided to plow up the front lawn and plant a huge vegetable garden.
He is anxiously explaining zoning bylaws while Uncle Jed and Jethro have hooked up a plow to a mule that Ellie-May brought home but it will only respond to her and she doesn’t want it to go to work in the hot sun.
It results in a stare down between Granny and the mule and I chuckle when Uncle Jed observes that in a mule staring contest he suspects Granny will win every time. It’s 8:30 and I’m feeling better.
I’m not suggesting we lock the doors and pull the blinds and watch black and white TV all day, but we have that choice.
We are bombarded by information on our cable screens or our computer devices and there is no longer a waiting period until we get home, we can call the news up on our phone from anywhere, anytime.
We have to remember that what we can watch, our kids and grandkids can watch as well and they have to be encouraged to turn off once in a while. We can log onto our computers and see the graphic devastation of an attack in Syria and listen to the commentator tell us how we might be affected or we can switch to another site and call up a Moody Blues concert from the Royal Albert Hall and relax for a couple of hours.
We have the control, the on/off switch is in our hands and when we feel that we’ve had enough we can take a break. Studies have shown that when we do, we sleep better, we are more optimistic, we laugh more freely, engage in meaningful relationships and reduce our fear and stress. Every once in a while, just unplug everything for a day.
Information is like food.
Too much of the bad stuff at one time is just not good for you. Like Mom used to say, “Turn off the TV and go outside.”
If you spend more time with the Clampet family and less time with the Trump family, you will sleep better.
At least that’s what McGregor says.