Less CNN and More Cartoon Network for Me

I don’t feel like writing anything political this week.  In fact, I’m thinking about canceling my satellite television and getting rid of my Internet provider.  Of course, that’s not realistic but I can dream, can’t I?  I wonder if I would be better off shutting out all the craziness of the world.  I wonder how it makes my life better to know details of murders, shootings, and abuse of little dogs.  Why do I have a need to know how many people ISIS beheaded today?  Don’t misunderstand.  I care, but there’s not a darn thing I can do about it. 

Further, the Presidential election will not take place for another year and a half, yet the comprehensive news coverage is causing me to suffer from serious burnout on the subject.  With more and more Republicans boarding the wacko wagon it’s too hard to keep up.  It would be easier if we were told who is NOT running for President. 

Every potential candidate tries to one-up the other with the ridiculousness of his or her ideas.  At times, I lose control and scream at the television.  When Chris Christy opens his mouth, I scream, “Sit down and shut-up!” just like he did to one of his audience members.  When Scott Walker opens his mouth, I yell, “What about the teachers you hate?”  At Jeb Bush, I yell, “You are dumber than your brother to say that you will abolish minimum wage.”  One of the many things I yell at Ted Cruz is “Show me your birth certificate!”  I can’t tell you what I scream at some of the other candidates because it’s not printable.  I am definitely burned out and stressed out on news and politics. 

The stories I hear that really make my blood pressure rise have to do with the $$$$ being raised for this election.  Each candidate is running around selling their soul to whatever billionaire will buy them.  It’s such a waste of money and disservice to our democracy.  Wouldn’t it be better if all these candidates were out raising money for a cause, like eliminating hunger in our country or a cancer cure?  When I heard the Koch Brothers were going to spend a billion dollars on the Republican of their choice in the 2016 election, I immediately thought of all the good that billion could buy and a presidential election was not even on the list. 

Let me explain my newfound ambivalence to politics and the news.  A few weeks ago, I came up lame one day.  No injury event that I could blame it on, but nonetheless, left knee pain made it nearly impossible to walk.  Couple that with a fairly recent right knee replacement, and I was out of commission.  The only silver-lining is that I’m not a horse because “they shoot horses, don’t they?”  After one month of “conservative” treatment, i.e. “don’t walk much”, I had an MRI that showed a torn meniscus and a stress fracture in my left knee.  Armed with that useful information, my doctor prescribed a new treatment, “Don’t walk.”  You know what that means!  I have been sentenced to sitting in my recliner all day with a remote and a laptop. 

Lately I have been thinking a lot about an old friend.  She was slightly older than me but we had young sons the same age.  I was impressed by her wisdom and her happy-go-lucky attitude.  I was a news junkie and loved politics even back in those days.  She confided in me that she had once been like me but after her brush with cancer, she decided to remove as much negativity from her life as possible and she stopped watching the news.  At the time, I thought that was the craziest thing I had ever heard.  Looking back, I realize that ignorance of something can truly be bliss.  And guess what!  She is still one of the happiest, most positive people I know.

I have realized that after many years of electronic dependence, my brain won’t slow down long enough to read a book.  I can’t sew, knit, or paint.  Everything else takes knees.  I sit and watch George do all the domestic chores that I always claimed I hated.  Now I know it’s those things I actually enjoyed and when I get my knees back, I’ll be the best commode scrubber ever!   In the meantime, I’m going on a diet of less CNN and more Cartoon Network.

Marilyn Langford