Since America has decided to collectively lose its mind, I’ve made a conscious decision to control the controllables, in my house, for my sanity and spirit. I must turn off the constant bombardment of the 24hr “news” cycle. I feel that lately it’s a contest of how to become more outlandish than the day before. It’s enough to make anyone feel stressed and overwhelmed and just heartbroken to be living in a period of history that is determined to undermine the progress of a nation. My only solace is to try to remain positive and spread positivity to others. 

Hope and optimism still exist in America, it’s just being out marketed by drama and insanity, but that seems to have always been the way though. Negativity seems to garner more attention than positivity. Growing up, there wasn’t as many options to get your news and information, and there was a perception that the people on television could be trusted to share just the unbiased facts. That changed over the years, the news is a business, facts are irrelevant, greed is king, and attention pays well. Nothing grabs attention like shock news and negativity.  Not to mention everyone now has a platform and no education, vetting or experience is required to share an opinion on the state of affairs regarding any topic. I am for open and free press and glad that everyone can share their thoughts on society but also fearful that, not all but a lot of people cannot seem to distinguish fact from opinion and most still do not understand that just because it is on television or the internet, doesn’t make it true. 

We humans are living in a time that lies are being absorbed as truths and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of questioning. Has history taught us nothing? I saw a story recently that the country of Finland is teaching their school children how to spot misinformation in the news and social media. They recognize the growing problem and are showing the youth how to combat it. Meanwhile, in America, we are banning books and erasing history from education system.

Each one of us gets to decide how we want to live our lives; America is still a free country. I don’t wish to bury my head in the sand and pretend we are not headed to a dark place, but I also cannot absorb nonsense on a daily basis without it taking a toll on the spirit. I want to be informed, I want to know what is happening in the world to which I live but I cannot and will not allow it to change who I am and how I hope society can be. I have always believed that there is more good in the world then there is evil. I don’t believe humankind would continue to exist if there wasn’t. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be those who would try to stop progress and I don’t imagine greed is going away any time soon, but I also know there has always been those who fight for truth and the rights of all people and there always will be. 

Stay strong America.