How did happen? My addiction to the latest news.
True, I have read Time magazine off and on since I was in graduate school. And the daily newspaper has been part of a daily ritual, which began in the "olden days" before the instant-news of the Internet.
This summer a trip to a writers conference in Santa Fe provided an opportunity to explore remote places in Colorado and Utah with my cameras. It was then that I realized I had an addiction - to the news when I could not pull up the online news or watch TV news. Later in the summer we traveled across the north Atlantic where we were sometimes "out of satellite range." When Hurricane Earl watch began, we were dependent on the ship for news of its progress north along the coast - and knew nothing about anything else in the world, including Earl's path along the eastern seaboad.
Since then, I have been paying attention to this addiction of mine. Sure, I could set limits - and the problem would go away. But it would be a missed opportunity to learn something about myself.
As a writer, I spend a lot of time before a computer screen. Access to news updates is easy. Am I simply an awe-struck older person for whom the phenomena of global connection is something new? Perhaps news gazing has become just too easy.
Am I somehow deluded in believing that if I know what is going on in this chaotic world, I can make better decisions for my life? And feel a little more in control?
Is news-addiction just an expanded version of people-watching, one of my favorite sports? As an inveterate listener to other people's conversations, I am fascinated about what makes people and relationships tick. Perhaps the news is another form of observing people.
As I have thought further, I believe a major contributor to my addiction to the news has to do with my legacy to my grand-children. Beg pardon, you say!
Yes, part of what I have to give my grandchildren is my hard earned wisdom. Before I had children, I lacked perspective about the culture in which I lived. I grew up in a small community where what was happening around the world had little impact (or so I thought). When I parented my children, I was busy with the day-to-day aspects of being involved in their lives and my involvment in my profession.
Now I look across our three generations, while trying to make sense out of who I have become and how did the culture in which I lived have an influence. And how does what is happening in the EU, Asia, Africa, or South America continue to shape and form not only me, but the global community?
Global community - a concept that did not exist in my childhood. What happened in my small prairie hometown had little to do "with the price of tea in China." Today what happens in China affects all of us deeply. For example, watch the story unfold with this year's Peace prize winner. Nixon had it right about the "domino effect." But his mind could never have imagined today's world - nor could any one's mind at the time of his presidency.
News-junkie? The question goes beyond the "what has my generation wrought?" The angst about what kind of tattered world have "we" created and are now handing over to the young adult generation. The coming to terms with what I have done to make a difference - and the limits on my ability to make a difference. Legacy is not something passive, a done-deal. It is alive and fluid as I reflect about the news as a mirror.
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