“Read All About It…”
Kids used to stand on the street corners yelling, “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!”
Today I think , “ Do I WANT to read all about it? “
News today is so sensationalized that it feels fake. Oh wait a minute….maybe it IS.
What can we believe about our lousy politicians and who should we choose for the next round?
While we were away in Toronto the Pope actually flew in to my city of Edmonton! That’s good news, right?
Pope Francis took it upon himself to bear the burden of apologizing for the sins of the Catholic Church upon our indigenous brothers and sisters. The residential school tragedies started way before his time and I was proud of him for taking the first step in making permanent changes with regards to moving forward as a community of believers.
But of course, the media mostly wants to print stories that invite controversy and unrest because….that sells papers, folks.
Even some indigenous folks themselves resented another, well known indigenous man (Wilton Littlechild) who presented the Pope with a ceremonial headdress (as a sign of peace and moving forward) for doing so. They didn’t want this to mean that all is forgotten and forgiven. Despite the horrific sufferings many are trying to find their way toward peace.
‘Unforgiveness’, ‘hatred’, ‘selfishness’, ‘fear mongering’, and ‘disasters’ are many of the main themes we read about today in the paper/online. And yes, we need to know about the bad things in life so we can prepare ourselves, take care of others, or pray for help to someone beyond ourselves.
We often feel lost and broken in our world today. I’ve heard the term “Our scary world”.
There have always been and always will be tough stories. They are everywhere and it’s fine to be informed about them of course.
But let’s not dwell on the bad. Let’s not hold onto our unforgiving hearts.
Can we change our own stories? Can we make a positive difference to the point of getting OUR stories shared with others? Can we change our attitudes and actions for the better ?
I’ve watched a ‘good news’ station before and thought I might get into it during the lockdown for the pandemic.
But even John Krasinski couldn’t seem to find enough good stories to share!!!
Let’s become that ‘good news’ story for others. Even if what we do is in private… let’s pay for that car behind us in the Tim Horton’s line. Let’s be kind to those nearest to us and in our neighbourhoods and places of work too.
Let’s perhaps try to balance out all the bad news with a goal to spread kindness….every week…..until it becomes every day…..every heart beat. And it makes a difference in our surroundings and in our soul.
A Prayer from Dora Nyamwija from Kenya.
“We may not change the whole world –
but we could make a difference.
We shall not wait to feed all the hungry children in Africa, Asia, South America or even Glasgow, Scotland,
and we shall start here and now
by sharing the food we have with each other.
We shall not wait for border laws to change,
and we shall start now
by opening our homes to strangers and friends.
We shall not wait for the whole world to stop hatred,
discrimination, injustice, oppression,
and we shall start here and now:
through accepting ourselves, our neighbours
and spreading as much kindness as we can.
We shall not wait to serve God in heaven,
and we shall start here and now
through serving those we meet in our daily lives.”
Amen.