Just Look Away but Stay Active
My mornings typically start with
NPR and coffee. This Monday as I reached
for the button on the radio I recoiled.
I knew the news would be about the election. I just could not listen. There was actually pressure in my chest and
gut---I could not bear thinking about what the coming election was going to
mean for our country. Then, as my finger
hovered over the button I thought “Well, maybe they’ll cover something more
cheerful, like the earthquake in Turkey.”
It paralyzed me—reports about a a huge natural disaster is more cheerful
than the election (or as some call it, the battle for democracy)?
Earlier in this election cycle I
made a decision---I was going to save myself first. I am a committed voter and citizen of the
United State of America. How could I
save myself from the damage being done to my soul by the current media coverage
of the political battles in our country while still being an active participant
in democracy? My response was to take
action. I volunteered to join a phone
bank on Get Out the Vote day.
That did not work out too
well. I am not cut out for phone
banking. I was greeted with obscenities,
rudeness, wrong numbers and long waits for a connection. I replaced phone banking action with a more
local activity—creating “handmade” postcards to encourage voters in my state to
vote for candidates for our state legislature who supported education and
healthcare. That was a very satisfying
and soothing activity. I felt I had contributed
and there was no violence done.
Thus, I have made a new promise to
myself. Look away from the media circus
and turn instead to small local actions.
Years ago, I read State of Fear, by Michael Crichton. His message still resonates with me, that the
media and politicians have the effect, intentional or not, of making us all
live in a frenzied of fear. And that was
written before the internet grabbed us all.
Later Myra Grant’s Newsflesh trilogy forecast the rise of social
media (and misinformation) in the face of a pandemic. Her work helped me believe in the power of
social media, both to inform but also to mislead.
My answer to these tensions that
most of us are feeling is twofold. Look
away from the media and take two steps to the center. The fear created by media and politicians
have driven us to extremes. I still
watch or listen to some news but when I start feeling the churning in my gut or
the pain in my chest I stop. I have been
intentionally listening to interviews of “average citizens” trying to
understand those with a viewpoint different from my own. To protect myself I’ve chosen the PBS
interviews Amna Nawaz has done with a mix of voters after the presidential
debates. Listening with love in my heart
for all of America I have tried to hear their concerns and beliefs. As a result, I think I understand that there
is honest concern and good intentions in at least some of the
“opposition.” I hope that as we move
past the election that we can find these points of agreement or sympathy and
build on them.
