Tag Archives: CNN

The News Will Happen With Or Without You

Times Square, New York, NYC, Manhattan, downtown new york, ny, There are many people (myself included, sometimes) who get caught up in the news. “Did you hear what happened? No what happened?” In the age of , the way in which the news in conveyed can be very compelling. Meaning, it’s not necessarily the content that’s attracting us, but the vessel by which it is delivered. Because of this compelling nature, we can sometimes (myself included), be so compelled as to follow the news — religiously.

I have nothing against the “news” as factual messages being conveyed, but I do think that sometimes, one can take their knowing the news a little bit too seriously. What do I mean by this? Have you ever met someone who couldn’t go 2 hours without getting their update from CNN, FOX News, or MSNBC? Again, there’s nothing inherently wrong with people wanting to be informed, in fact, I’d encourage it, to a point, of course. (See my post about for more on that.) Staying informed can be an important way to know what’s going on in the community, the state/province, the country, and the world.

Do you ever get the sense that sometimes, these people (or you?) feel that if you don’t follow the news, something really big might happen and you’ll miss it? While that might happen, when “big” things happen, you don’t necessarily need a news outlet to tell you about it. Yes, if you were watching the news, you’d know the second it happens, but nowadays (with everyone following the news by the second), they are bound to bring it up in conversation. “Hey, did you hear about the tsunami in Japan?” “Did you hear about the earthquake in Virginia?” These types of things get talked about.

Unless it’s your job, (and maybe even if it is your job), I’d bet that you probably could use a break from the news. About a month ago, I wrote a post asking, “” I wrote that post particularly for those of us that have a habit of staying very connected to our electronic devices. I’d encourage you to go back to that post and substitute electronic devices for news. The same basic message still applies. Taking a vacation from the news is sometimes just as important as taking a vacation from your electronics (and usually goes hand-in-hand).

Taking this break from the news may just clarify for you what type of news you want to be consuming. You may find that after taking a break from the news, you really don’t want to get Google! News updates for every time an article is written about Sarah Palin or every time someone mentions the US Department of Defense. You may find that you want to start reading more positive news sources like . Most importantly, I hope that by taking a break from the news that you realize — it never ends. The spigot of the news is a powerful force… a never-ending source.

Aren’t We All Just Baby Chicks Following a Mother Hen?

Because of where I live, I have the great fortune of being able to look out my window and see an abundance of roosters. And because of this abundance of roosters, undoubtedly, there are a number of baby chicks. These baby chicks don’t just wander aimlessly across the lawn looking for food or something to do. These baby chicks, instead, are quite deliberate in their actions. In fact, these baby chicks follow around the mother hen. Partially, because their life depends upon it. Maybe not where I live, but in some parts of the world, if a baby chick strays to far from momma, it’s likely to be another creature’s tasty snack.

As I watched these baby chicks following the mother hen, I looked a little closer at their actions. I wanted to see why it was they were following mother around. From what I was able to gather, these baby chicks are following mother around because they’re safer (read: ), but more than that, mother hen shows them what’s foot and what’s not food. This may have been some sort of anomaly, but from the dozens of  minutes I was able to watch (on different days), the hens would go to an area of the lawn and then call the chicks over to where she was (usually a distance of mere away). The mother hen would then begin pecking away at the grass (or something on the lawn) and the baby chicks would follow suit.

I soon learned, just from watching, that this was how the baby chicks were able to eat. Either the mom was helping to pull something up out of the ground or she was identifying what was nutritious for the baby chicks. The mother hen would vary her time in how long she spent in an area. When she left one area, some of the baby chicks would immediately follow her, while others, remained behind (to pick-up the scraps?) As I continued to watch the dynamics of the situation, I began to be able to notice parallels to the news of society.

The different big-branded news corporations (, , , , , etc.) are all like mother hens and us, the viewers, are like baby chicks. When one of these news conglomerates reports on a story, immediately, our attention is drawn to that area of the world. When one of the mother hens calls the baby chicks attention to one area of the lawn, immediately, that is where their attention goes. The chicks run over to see what’s happening. Like the baby chicks, the viewers become immediately concerned with whatever is being reported to them.

When a reporter or hen talks about a certain story, they are drawing your attention to that story. Unintentionally or not, they are also drawing your attention away from any other story that they could have reported on. As the reporter moves onto another story the next day, some viewers move onto the next story with them, while some viewers stay enveloped in “yesterday’s news.” Sometimes, this is for good (maybe their favorite team won a big game) and sometimes it’s maybe for not so good reasons (?)

Being able to watch these baby chicks follow around the mother hen allowed me to see something that is played out in society time and time again. Somebody (the hen) says xyz is important, so instantly, everyone else (the baby chicks) buy-in to the story to see just what xyz about. My point in this story about the hen and the baby chicks is that all of us, in one way or another, is following around a hen. Whether we watch the news on any particular station, read about news on the internet, or get our news from our friends. Regardless, our attention is being drawn to a story (more times than not) because someone said it was important. I think it is paramount to remember that had we been following a different hen, our views, beliefs, and ideas about the world would likely be completely different.