Hello... My name is Jeremy & I'm a News Addict... (all together: HI JEREMY!)
News Addict... Political Junkie... MSNBCrackhead...
None of those terms seem very endearing, but despite what most people may think, I embrace them.
"Jer... why do you like the news so much? Why do you follow politics so closely? Why are you always burying your nose in the front section of the NY Times?"
You might think the answer to those questions is an easy one: I'm a nerd. Well, that is partially true, but its not the answer I would give.
Let me put it to you this way... Do you have a young son or daughter? A little niece or nephew? A younger brother or sister? Do you ever look into their smiling faces and see a world of possibilities? Do you ever see hopes & dreams in their inquisitive, bright, gleaming eyes? And do you ever wonder, "Will they do great things? Will they have a loving, caring heart & selflessly help & care for others?"
I do. I have a amazingly beautiful, brilliant four year old niece & every time I look into her bright blue eyes I think of what she'll be like when she gets older & when she gets to be my age. And then I think of the kind of world she might be living in when she is. That thought frightens me sometimes... the thought of the kind of world that she may be living in, not the thought that someday she will be my age & I will probably be a wrinkly bag of bones on my way out the door. But it frightens me to think of those days that lie ahead for her, and I question:
Will people ever be treated equally with no deep-seeded or generationally-passed hints & tones of lingering racism present?
Will every American citizen be allowed to marry who they love regardless of their genders?
Will our country still be fighting foreign wars with countries that are devoted to religious law & not a system of political governance based on equality & liberty?
Will women have the right to choose what to do with their own bodies & be allowed to make their own decisions about their futures?
Will education have improved & moved to the forefront of our national priorities?
Will thousands of children still die each day due to poverty & hunger?
Will neighbors still battle one another over which "god" is "real" & best to "worship"?
Will the very rich ever chip in to help out the very poor?
Will all Americans be able to have a decent job & be able to support their families?
Will greed ever diminish?
Will people take environmental issues more seriously?
Will they begin to care more about each other?
Will nations ever join together in peace & respect for good of all mankind?
These are some of the thoughts that go through my mind on a regular basis when I look at my niece & other young children, wherever I may encounter them. I wonder if the world will be a better place for them than the one I currently watch on these network news channels.
I am a hopeful person by nature. I believe in the good of humanity... but not ALL of humanity. That is probably because I am also a "Realist". I know that for as many good people that are out there, there are probably an equal amount that are hell-bent on indulging in selfishness & greed, with no regards for others. Those people seem to have the numbers right now to tip the scales & turn this beautiful blue, life-filled planet of ours into a living hell for all those that choose not to be like them. That is one of the reasons I turn on the news everyday. I turn it on to get a gauge on exactly where our species is in regards to positive, peaceful, intellectual progress.
This world is a mess right now. You can verify that on just about any news channel you turn on. War, corruption, murder, fighting, finger-pointing, famine, natural disasters, economic disasters, civil rights violations, inequality, hate, fear, anger, sadness... the list goes on & on. But I would rather think of ways to remedy those things as opposed to just ignoring them or letting them bring me down. How could one just sit by, watching all these terrible things happen & not want to stop them, change them, or fix them??
That is what the news does for me. It reminds me, each and every day, that there are billions of awful things going on all around us, millions suffering, pleading for help, for change, yet I watch the majority of people I know just go about their daily business like nothing is happening, like they don't care. I don't understand how people cannot be affected by the travesties being reported day after day, week after week. I understand that they have lives to lead, a job to go to, a family to care for, bills to pay, dinner parties to attend, etc, etc, but that should not be an excuse to ignore the rest of your brothers & sister across the globe. We are all ONE! We are all of the same RACE... we are the HUMAN RACE, and until we start thinking like that, there is the possibility that there may not be a bright future for those young children whose eyes we look so hopefully into. We may not have to worry about getting to that dinner party on time because we may be worrying instead about where our next meal will come from.
"If you don't pay in the beginning, you will pay in the end..." That's a quote from a local Non-Profit Chairperson that works with impoverished & homeless children right here in Pittsburgh. She is trying to tell people that if we do not take action now to improve the conditions of so many "broken" things around us we will end up paying a much higher price in the end after it all falls to pieces & we are left standing among the ruins.
So, you can call me what you want while I read the headlines, brow furrowed, fingers clenched tightly around the first 20 pages of the Times, but I am doing it for one reason... to learn about the problems we as human beings are facing & find a solution to those problems.
Until others begin to act in the name of creating a better world for our sons and daughters, for our nieces and nephews, for our brothers and sisters, we will inevitably be forced down a path of selfishness, carelessness, solitude & destruction. Whether it is reading the paper & searching for solutions that you can apply to your own life & the lives of those around you, or flying halfway around the world to use your medical PhD to save the lives of children you have never met, the only thing that counts is the fact that you want to help and are willing to attempt to do so.
As the great & wise Bob Marley once said... "The people who were trying to make this world worse are not taking the day off. Why should I?"
Thx for reading!! --Jer--
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