Spring Break Revelations

Good morning! I took a much needed week off because my fiancé was on spring break. I had been running out of good ideas for article topics and I felt like my articles were getting stale. My fiancé and I had a wonderfully relaxing break and we both are returning to our jobs today rejuvenated and excited for the next five weeks (how is it only five weeks until summer?!)!

Even though I didn't write during my break, I did keep up with the news. And I can't tell you how happy I am that I wasn't writing current news articles last week! Gun control, North Korea, and celebrity mishaps were hot topics. People were getting so fired up about everything and, on both sides, were polarizing issues.

Was it actually worse last week, or did it just seem that way, since I had removed myself from the fray?

I think the way our culture deals with news is fascinating. Everything goes so quickly that it feels like you have to be paying attention 24 hours a day and picking a side before that topic is no longer at the forefront of everyones' minds. For example, early last week, North Korea was making headlines every day. By Thursday, it wasn't even in the top news stories. Today, it's back on top because John Kerry is back from his visit there. Tomorrow, it'll be back in the second half of the hour's news, if at all.

How are we supposed to be informed citizens if we are bombarded with stories that freak us out, and then three days later, those stories are just gone and we have a bunch of new stories we're supposed to care deeply for and form very strong opinions about?

I am tired of seeing "political" articles that have no research behind them, surveys that don't actually give people all the options there actually are to choose from, and "debates" on television in which the minute someone says something that the host disagrees with, that person is cut off and the host tells us (again) what his opinion is.

This happens on both sides. I have done it. But we need to change. We need to decide that it's more important for our citizens to be informed than to choose a side. We need to decide that it's more important for us to make sure that everyone is safe (even if we don't know them and they live in a difference socioeconomic class than we do) than to keep a certain rating from a certain private corporation for our own "reputation" (wouldn't you rather have the reputation of helping people than the reputation of voting however the NRA wants you to vote so you have an "A" from them? I would.).

I guess the thing I took away the most from my week off is that I would rather be a well-informed citizen than have shallow (albeit loud) opinions. Sure, it's fun to get people all riled up and have arguments, but does anything really get accomplished with that? I'm not too sure. I think it's more important to help people understand (in a non-biased manner--yes, it's possible!) what's going on.

I have learned that just because I have strong convictions doesn't mean that they're always right. Just that last sentence alone shows growth on my part. I never would have said that even six months ago. This week, I am going to work on putting my hard and fast opinions aside and look at the big picture. I recommend that you do the same. It'll make all of us better for it.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi