The Summer Of Our Discontent

Our nation has been rocked by some acts of extremely tragic and devious ugliness as of late. From one end of this country to the other we’ve been witness to the negative side of humanity and its ability to divide the hearts and minds of not only a nation but the citizens in individual neighborhoods as well.  To say that it has thus far been a summer rife with protests in support of pride, prejudice, peer pressure and politics would be grossly understating the mood demonstrated as of late. 

People are angry, hurt, fearful and furious with what they witness, feel and know to be wrong.  To watch the nightly media feeding frenzy you would think that we’ve all gone mad and nothing can bring us back from the brink of self destruction. Thankfully, that’s a lie.

Yes, there have been an over abundance of despicable acts demonstrating man’s capacity to exercise selfish hate and oppressive power and control. But there have been just as many, if not more, wonderful acts of kindness and heartwarming examples of giving, forgiveness and love. Our views have been slanted by the information we are fed, and overwhelming that information is bad.

It’s no secret that negative information sells product and opinion much more effectively than good information does. The seedy underbelly of humanity appeals to more viewers and readers for some reason than the good things that surround us. The nation’s marketing media moguls don’t miss a beat in inundating our minds with all that is heartache and hand wringing while ignoring the many examples of happiness and hope that abound. It’s a rigged game which keeps us on the edge of our seats and on our knees in fearful penance for a society gone wrong. It’s time we stood up, you and me, and proclaimed “enough is enough!”

This is our own fault. Perhaps if we didn’t promote and nurture the morbid habit of immersing ourselves in all things fearful, hateful and negative we wouldn’t have such skewed views about where this country is headed. Let’s be honest, we are gluttons when it comes to willingly ingesting crap. Where’s the good in this? Oh, wait. If we desire good things we have to create them. Don’t we?

Perhaps if we suggested, possibly even demanded, that local, regional and national media give equal eyes and ears to the positive that happens around us, we wouldn’t feel like we were on a sinking ship with fewer life jackets than passengers.

Perhaps if we took time to realize that willingly drowning ourselves in a sea of negativity will not produce positive change, only more strife and pain, we’d be willing to take action to promote the positive more often or even step outside our discomfort zone and create it.

To be clear, I am not advocating or suggesting that we ignore the problems we face in our society. In fact I’m advocating just the opposite. To put it bluntly I am suggesting we get off our collective asses that we willingly plant in front of the TV or any other personal electronic leash of choice and actually do something positive and helpful. We’ve gorged ourselves enough on the voyeuristic watching of news about other people doing very bad things that the media and so called entertainment industry selectively choose to feed us. It’s simple really; Garbage in results in garbage out. As a society we are a perfect example of becoming what we choose and allow ourselves to ingest.  

If you want to find good things you have to look for them. Believe me, they are there. They are not only there, they are abundant and not difficult to find. Our country abounds in people doing good things and helping one another out of shared interest, compassion and love. This cuts across all perceived boundaries of race, religion, lifestyle choice, age, sex or social status. Our main stream news media just chooses to ignore most of the good in favor of dishing up another heaping serving of sensationally negative news. Get yourself involved with the good and you’ll get a different picture of what the truth really is.

A society, country, community, neighborhood, family or relationship will always have its difficulties and challenges. It’s how these challenges are approached, understood for what they are minus the overstated drama for personal delight or deceit, and solved for the good of everyone involved. We are better than this. Let’s prove it to ourselves and everyone peeking through these windows disguised as television and computer screens.

I have an assignment for you. The next time you watch the actions of despicable people played out in the main stream media, pay close attention to the number of passersby who take the time to whip out their electronic leashes to live stream the action in hopes of capturing it all for, well, for what? The first instinct for many seems to be to video what goes down instead of doing something positive to prevent further harm or mayhem. How does that help? It just continues to feed the media’s insatiable appetite for negative material and society’s insatiable appetite to see more instead of doing more to solve the bigger issue at hand.

In my opinion it comes down to education, self discipline and training.  Better educated, self disciplined and trained individuals act differently than those with no education, training or discipline. The habits we form determine how we act in any given situation. This goes for anyone whether they are individuals charged with protecting and keeping the peace or the people who find themselves confronted with bad situations.

As a society we should all be better trained to compassionately protect and serve one another.  The habits we pick up as we are educated determine how we will act in any given situation. These habits are taught to us from a young age and unless something comes along to modify these habits they become what we fall back on when the crap hits the fan. If the habits we develop are learned by watching and listening to current main stream media how can we not help but be in the shape we are in right now as a society? Think about it.

What I propose to you is that you take charge of balancing the negative you see and hear with an over abundance of positive thought and action. Don’t wait for someone else to do it for you. We are all counting on you to show us how to make things better. Here’s the kicker; you are we. And if we don’t get it right together, then nothing will ever change. I’m sure that you are familiar with the saying, “be the change you want in the world.” Now’s the time my friend; go and do good things in the world, and while you’re at it, make it a habit that you can share. Here’s hoping you find your Smile.

#michaelddavis

 "I simply write what I feel, because it matters to me. Hopefully some of it will resonate with and matter to you as well" - MDD