Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Bad News

I was disgusted today by the news. Twice. The first time was this morning watching the weather before going to work and then hearing the little captions about the upcoming stories! My kids were in the room for heaven's sake!!! They don't need to hear about a man going on trial for slitting the throat of his precious baby boy.. Or the teacher who is being indicted for selling crack at school.. Or the latest sex scandal in the Catholic church.. Holy crap!! As I scrambled for the remote I caught a glimpse of Nathan's face paying close attention to what he was hearing... That boy is so anxious to understand, to learn and to get info -- he soaks in all that he can. He reads over my shoulder when I'm on the computer, he listens to my phone conversations and asks, "Why'd you say that?" "What does that mean?" And when we're watching cartoons or movies, he wants to know what the characters are thinking - why they're feeling ____ - and whats going to happen next.
So, of course, he was paying close attention to the news. And my heart sank.
My little boy is innocent. Well, as innocent as I've been able to keep him for the past 8 years... And I don't want to shatter that. I don't want him to have nightmares about bad men or scary teachers. I don't want him to have adult concerns and fears... But dang-it I need to watch the weather!!!! Even using the internet for the weather, there are always blaring headlines about missing children, mass murders, executions, etc....
The second time was at work, checking the news from the last couple of days... A grandmother in Virginia threw her granddaughter off a six story mall walkway. Three little boys in Michigan, all brothers, are missing and the police suspect that their father was involved in their disappearance... Local teachers are bracing for how to tell their students that three boys in their school were murdered. And by their father no less... WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH PEOPLE!!?!?!? Some days I am so overwhelmed by the... evil in the world. Its disheartening and depressing.

Does anyone know of a news page that has local weather options that is more family friendly??? I currently use MSN and, as an adult, really like it -- but not now that I have eyes following my media choices... Any suggestions?!!? Thanks!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, how depressing! Poor Nathan. There are some good news websites like Good News Network and Happy News, but I haven't spent any time on them so I don't know if there is any local weather... Maybe the website for your local K-Love station or NPR? Good luck. Hope you guys are doing well.

-Linda

Stony and Brit said...

Yuk! I will ask my mom if she knows of any "safe" news.