Please excuse my long absence as I had a longtime visitor at my home and enjoyed the visit. This is not to say I was empty of thought as each day I would write notes to myself about topics with which I was concerned. The following gives testament to some of my mind wanderings. Oh the places I have traveled……
            Each day, we are updated with blurbs and headlines regarding current news across the Globe. How much news do we really need? When 9/11 occurred, I became obsessed with news 24/7 and in fact found my sleep interrupted as I would awaken several times during the night to keep updated, as if I might miss an important piece of news. Some would call this phenomenon a little crazy. I must agree now, that it probably was crazy, and I was not the only person in the Nation watching CNN Headline News at all hours of the night. I continued watching the CNN Headline News for over a year. Then I realized that this was not the norm.
             Once I read an article which mentioned a concept that we reserve the right ‘Not to Know.’ I believe over one hundred years ago, an idea that one day we would become over saturated with so much news that we could actually go crazy. Today, I can be watching something on television and it will be interrupted with a sensational crime story, with no warning of graphic material. This is total disregard for any children who may be watching. It is as if sensationalism has replaced decency. I am not really sure that what I see portrayed as news is really news. What I sometimes see and read is more information than my brain can handle. Sometimes, I do not know what to do with disturbing graphics and information and I am not good at processing it. I wished I had never even heard the story, because it continues to haunt me Surely, I cannot be the only one who feels this way. My belief is that we will never have the ability to keep up with the fast pace of technological advancement. We purchase our computers and they are obsolete before we bring them home. The news feeds which bombard us minute by minute are similar in the way that it is unfiltered, out of control information and media.         
            Everyone has a cell phone with a camera, a digital camera, spy novelties, or a video camera. At any time, you can be filmed and never know it. I saw quite by accident a piece of footage showing a young man’s death on his motorcycle doing a stunt he had probably done hundreds of times. It had been posted You Tube and unfortunately, I never intended to see it but caught the gruesome scene. I wonder how anyone tcould take footage like that and post it with no regard to the grieving family. Although I live in a country which has alternative media, uncensored this and that, I would fight to keep it this way. I would prefer to filter out the nonsense myself, by avoiding horrific headlines and turning off the TV and radio when I am feeling bombarded. Who really needs news 24/7? Long gone are the days when my ancestors read a weekly rag which covered topics around the Globe. I think there were fewer crazier people back then too.
             The media has a way of pushing our buttons and even if we enjoy a certain program, sometimes we need to control our response to the material… and turn off the radio. I am not sure our media is doing a good job covering important issues. It seems the local town rags do an excellent job of covering the responses of everyday citizens to the news media. I was not interested in the antics of Britney Spears or the death of Michael Jackson or the OJ Simpson trial. Why do we hold these Hollywood types in high esteem? Do we wish to be like them? I think if we all took an interest in what is happening in our own four walls, the world might just be a little more interesting and healthier.
               Another topic of interest is our dependence on China. We owe them a great debt, because we think we need all this crap made in China. How much junk do we really all need? The proof is in the hundreds of yard sales in my own vicinity. If we were not obsessed with stuff, there would be no yard sales. It reminds me of an old newspaper article I read about the American South while sitting in my doctor office. The South was very angry with the North shortly after the Civil War. The wounds were very deep. One Northerner wrote, “You can’t blame them because they wake each day from their Yankee made beds, which are covered with their Yankee made sheets and pillows. The slip into their Yankee made clothes, and groom themselves with their Yankee made brushes, combs and razors. They sit down at their Yankee made table and chairs and eat from their Yankee made dishes and silverware”….You get the point. Look around your home to see all the items made elsewhere, usually China. Today, we are like the Southerners of long ago in comparison with our dependency on China. The Chinese said that America spends tomorrow’s money today and the Chinese do not do that. 
             Even the media cannot keep up with the pace of the wonders of the Internet like Twitter, You Tube etc. One has to research so much to gather stories of interest and to investigate. I do not see much of that going on in too many newspapers. You would think that the newspapers would complement their news stories with the likes of alternative media sources. I would think in the news business, one would have to search and search for newsworthy items in all types of available internet media. Perhaps this is why the newspapers are failing. Soon they will all be similar to the Tabloids which are commonplace in England. News as it is delivered will be over, if that is what we will be reduced to for our news. It is not unusual for me to read a story and leave with the feeling that the story was unfinished. I always look for what is unwritten, much like in conversation, the unspoken is sometimes more important than what was spoken. Maybe too many choices are just as bad as not enough choices. That is why I believe the online comments are a fine addition to the online newspaper editions. Sometimes the comments are disturbing, but usually they give a sense of closure to the story and commenters even  question pieces of the story.
             On another matter; a short time ago that there were no supermarkets, only corner markets. As a child, I seldom recall going to McDonald’s Restaurant. We went to Old Orchard Beach for rides once. As a big family we did things together, and went places which cost little to nothing. There was not this urgent sense of consumerism. Why do so many feel like they cannot ever wait for any purchase? They want it all now. Supposedly ATM card users spend more than people who carry cash spend.  We are still in control….turn off the TV, throw out the sale flyers, stop shopping on the internet, and don’t allow yourself to be told what you need. Most of all on a humorous note, don’t look at those magazines at the checkout, always reminding us of what a man needs. No wonder we feel inadequate… and to think we even pay for it at the checkout! Come to think of it, I have not seen many magazines about what a woman wants… unless of course a woman is writing it for another woman. You can make that choice not to buy everything in sight and put a few dollars in your pocket.