“Watch the news, Summer,” a loud little voice said to me.
Watch the news? What the…? I thought.
It was 2020, and I hadn’t watched the news in twenty-something years, except for sporadic moments when my Dad would call me and tell me to do so. I trusted his perspective on things since he had worked on several news shows as a TV Director. He’d heard all sides of politics on all kinds of topics, and even had personal chats with top politicians and leaders of countries around the world as they prepared for a news segment. He knew how the news cranked out propaganda, and how each show had their own agenda. He knew the games that were used to manipulate the masses. And, he knew when something was really worth watching.
Although my Dad was still alive in 2020, that loud little voice wasn’t his. It was Spirit, which really surprised me. When I didn’t immediately comply with them, that loud little voice got bigger. Watch. the. news. now.
I reluctantly turned on the TV and went to the first news station I could think of. They were talking about a guy who’d gotten off of a ship in California and had something called Coronavirus. I groaned, clicked the TV off and called my Dad.
“Here we go, Summy” he said, “Hang onto your hat!”
By the next day we were all in quarantine, and things went eerily quiet. I turned on some music, made some delicious food, and sat outside eating and watching the birds in the trees.
This memory came back to me a few days ago as I clicked off the news. I realized how I had been slowly sucked into the drama of watching the daily news for the past 6 years, toggling between networks to get all perspectives, trying to make up my own mind about things. And, I’d recently noticed that with as little news as I watched, I was still being severely dragged down by all of the endless negativity.
As the TV went silent, I sighed in relief and thought, “Ignorance is bliss.” But then I wondered, “Is ignorance stupid? Maybe I need to stay informed. Maybe I need to care about all of the horrible things that are happening in the world that I can do nothing about except pray.”
“You can pray and send love to the world anyway, Summer, even without knowing the headlines,” I heard the loud little voice say. “Go read a book.”
I filled a small plate with delicious cheese, pistachios, and a few green olives, poured a glass of my favorite cheap champagne, grabbed a fascinating book recommended by my friend, Liz, and sat out on the patio with the kitties. The temperature outside was perfect. The trees showed signs of Spring. The hummingbirds darted back and forth to the feeders, birds chirped, a hawk flew overhead, and cars that whizzed by on the bordering highway sounded like waves crashing in the ocean. I popped an olive into my mouth and washed it down with a swig of champagne. I said a prayer and sent love to all of the people in the world, and visualized planet earth enveloped in a blanket of peace.
I cracked open the book and began to read as I felt deeply calm inside. Kitties purred at my side. A flock of pigeons chortled and flirted as they sat sunning themselves on the neighbor’s rooftop.
I looked up from my book and took a deep breath as I watched the clouds roll by. Ah yes, I thought, ignorance IS bliss. And it’s not so ignorant after all. In fact, it’s actually pretty smart to awaken to all of the things that really matter in life.
