Even a self-imposed news boycott does not insulate one from the rest of the world, nor was that the point of my experiment to go a year without the benefit of the news media. The suffering of the world is always there and if there is one constant, it does seem to be suffering.
Over the course of two short days I was directly questioned about how my chosen blackout of the news in my daily life related to the recent tragic events in Japan. I hear alarm bells in my head even as I write this. What could I possibly say that would have any significance when compared to the victims of this or any other tragedy? I feel a deep compassion for the people who have suffered and continue to suffer from the earthquake and the tsunami and the continuing aftershocks. Whether or not I see the graphic images of devastation and sorrow, I know that this is a horrible thing for people to experience and, as the poet so clearly wrote, " any man's death diminishes me..." We are all linked, as jewels in Indra's Net, and we all suffer together. I believe this with all of my heart.
The two people who questioned me about my no-news experiment were not scoffers or mere acquaintances, but , on the contrary, important people in my life. One person asked me how I could maintain my boycott of the news services while the horrific events in Japan were unfolding. It was a valid question and not meant simply to trip me up. My answer was that over the course of a single year there are so many possibilities for tragedy across the globe that it is inevitable that something like this would occur and dominate the headlines, as well it should. As I explained this, I also tried to make clear then, as I do now, that my following or not following the course of events in no way lessens the importance of what is happening to the lives of the people effected by this calamity. I am not questioning the validity of news reports on the events of the world. I am only choosing to limit the extent to which I allow those reports to effect my daily life.
The second person in as many days asked me if I was still not "doing the news" as he glanced at the soundless CNN broadcast going on behind my back while we were having lunch. The news story was, of course, an update on the events in Japan. Again, I did not feel that my motives were being questioned but rather how and if I was able to maintain the boycott in the face of such an obviously important event.
These questions gave me pause to ponder once again what the point is to going a year without news. The original premise of this boycott was that the pursuit of current events was taking up far to large a chunk of my daily life and the constant flow of news into my personal world was not making me a happier person. For me, the premise remains true. The suffering in the world goes on whether I am up to date on it or not. The stupidity of modern politics continues whether or not I study it on a daily basis. So the second part of the question is whether or not I think that this news boycott is making me a happier person. I would have to say that it is not. While I know that weighing my own personal happiness while others suffer is dancing dangerously close to the brink of insensitivity or narcissism or both, I have to remind myself (or anyone reading this) that there is always suffering in the world. Always. Without opening a paper or turning on a television or radio I can tell you that there is a natural disaster in Japan, unnatural environmental disasters across the world and civil war in numerous countries besides the constant human tragedies of hunger and disease and poverty.
If I am choosing not to hear about the sadness of the world why then am I not happier? Since I am not spending three or more hours acquiring news, I have more time to do other things. I have time to play more music, be more involved and more time to think. I had an entire month to myself while travelling, more than enough time for contemplation. With that gift of time, the need for changes in my life became more and more evident. So I have to honestly say that I am not happier now than I was as a practicing news-junkie. What I am, however, is more focused, more resolved and more radicalized. The more radicalized comment I will leave for a future post as I am still mulling that over.
Happiness is, as everything else, a transitory phenomenon. While life itself is transitory, implementing change in one's life is more rewarding than sitting passively and letting it drift by. My hope is that my resolve is such that I can make the changes I need to make to be a more whole human being. Not thinner, or a second language speaker, or a better runner, or any of the other goals that love to have attention paid to them, worthy or not. The courage to embrace what makes me more open to the experience of living and the same courage to discard that which holds me back, this is the resolve that I am hoping for.
So I will continue to eschew the daily dose of news from the world. I will try to be more involved in the life around me, as I have been doing. And I will do my best to use the additional time afforded to me to make more lasting and rewarding changes for myself and hopefully, by doing that, for the rest of the jewels in the net.
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