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["Gloria Morris" <gloriamorris59 AT gmail.com>]

Part of the problem is being over-whelmed with all the bad news. And, apart
from some miraculously good thing that happens, most reported news is bad.
But part of the problem is how WE process the information we see and hear.
What do we CHOOSE to do with the information? How do we CHOOSE to react to
it, if at all? Do we focus on what we have within OUR control to do about
the situation? Or do we get angry at others for not acting? One is a
positive reaction, one a negative. The positive reaction breeds a positive
emotional outlook, while the anger at something outside our control fuels a
negative emotional outlook.

Throughout history many people have felt that we were going to hell in a
hand basket and that things are getting worse. We're still here. It is up to
us, how we choose to deal with our time. We can bemoan that society is going
to hell in a hand basket, or we can do what we can and go about our lives as
positively as possible.

Gloria

On 9/20/07, Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com> wrote:
>
> I recently had dinner with friends who are accomplished homesteaders.
> They produce a large percentage of what they eat, stay warm with
> firewood that they cut, are highly self reliant, and lead a life that
> might be a model of sustainability.
>
> Certainly one might blame the beer, but alas, during after-dinner
> talk we old friends actually sunk to the level of shouting at each
> other as we exchanged and argued over what we think we know about
> peak oil, overpopulation, sustainability, inflation, dollar erosion,
> and of course politics. Somehow we missed sex and religion.
>
> Driving home I thought about what had occurred. I was appalled and
> depressed that otherwise sane and intelligent humans, long-time
> friends, could sink so low. So I have been thinking about why it
> happened. And I think I know the answer. We are ingesting too much
> information. Information is available as never before, more than we
> can handle, I think. Among the results are that we believe we are
> experts on subjects beyond our former ken. We instinctively know that
> knowledge is power and the mass media is happy to profit from that
> urge. Alas, "if it bleeds it leads, " and most of the information we
> consume today is bloody, awful and highly negative. So-called
> journalists compete for consumers of "news" with the most incendiary
> subject they can find. No wonder my friends think the sky is falling.
>
> It is said that our physical selves are what we eat. My thought for
> the day is that our minds are what we read, watch and listen to.
>
> Choose knowingly.
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