I will be the first to admit, I'm a champion of the electronic age. Hip, hip, hooray. I don't have a lot of electronic gadgets, put I do appreciate the ones I have, and am grateful someone invented them
That being said, I have to admit, there are times I wish I didn't get news, especially bad news in moments of the event happening. For quite a while on Sunday I watched the bad weather unfold in the mid-section of our country. Seeing that huge tornado spread destruction while it was happening, was a terrifying thing to watch. After a while, I had to busy myself with other things...but I was always drawn back to my television to see what was happening next. The personalizing of it was especially brought home as the helicopter's skids would occasionally come into view, that I could get a prospective of just how close it was to the tornado itself. Of course I knew it was not in harm's way, still, it was astounding how technology has advanced that we as a nation were that close to the carnage, too. Still, the more I watched the more anxious I became, I physically felt myself becoming more and more distressed.
I watched the storms move north, and I thought and worried about my son and his family, who live in Minnesota. I could see those fiery red images 'loop' over and over again, every fifteen minutes or so advancing closer to them. They have lived In Minnesota for many years, and one of the first things my son mentioned to me when I went to visit him was what to do if the sirens went off, and where to go in the house for the best safety. Yesterday I envisioned them all collecting in the lowest level of their home huddling closely together for safety and comfort.
Of course this morning, as I was watching the news I could see Minnesota had been spared (this time), and a quick note from my granddaughter on facebook reassured me they were all fine. She said they had some pretty strong thunderstorms, but otherwise came through them flying colors. Thank, God.
But, today...well...we all know what happened in Oklahoma. Again, terrible devastation. I watched, mesmerised. I was enthralled, mystified, horrified, but mostly terrified. I could feel my anxiety level rising. It was bad enough watching that ugly, deceitful, steel grey, funnel, gobble up everything in its path, then spitting out distasteful bits. It was even worse to see the aftermath, the trail of rubble, that left neighborhood homes flat and useless.
By this evening I began to think maybe electronic gadgets are overrated. I remember the days of my youth. We learned things by radio, sometimes it took hours or days to learn about catastrophes. The closer a catastrophe was, the sooner we learned about it. The farther away, the longer it took. Even with the development of television it took time to learn about bad things that happened. Weather people gave their reports using an outline map of the United States, and used 'stick on' weather symbols. A sun, white puffy clouds, darker ones with rain, even darker ones with lightning coming out of them at jagged angles, while snowflakes frequently appeared come winter. We thought it was great and the props were actually quite effective.
Now, well, we've come a long way baby. It's all good. Really. Still, and maybe it's just me and the fact I'm so much older, but watching the weather today, I eventually got exhausted. I could not watch one more minute. The media wears me out. I think I prefer the 'olden' days when we got the news, and then moved on. Please, I appreciate your technology, and your reporting, but I don't need your repetition or hour after hour reports. My aging heart, mind and spirit simply can't take it. Tell me the news, even show me pictures, then give me time to process it before inundating me with minute by minute updates, repetitious reporting, and prerecorded pictures. I would appreciate that.
Sigh. I'm going to bed and saying a prayer that those who are homeless have shelter tonight and that there will be no tornadoes tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment