Fear or Doing?

Headlines should pinpoint a topic of interest to the reader. Those are keywords. It helps the reader sort through the bevy of material to enable faster scanning. Opting for items of interest for that reader is the goal. Today’s news channels appear to favor fear over topical content.

The result is a fear-based reporting warp that heightens reader concerns. The vortex of public dread becomes ever larger in this climate. Moods shift to lower levels and normal activity focuses more on preparing for a disaster. Those moods trigger lower stock prices, higher pricing on consumer goods and other negative happenings. Suicides, too, rise. Often, crime increases.

Negativity. Fear. Loathing. Anxiety. Cheap shots to human vulnerability. All of them. Disgusting.

Rather we should focus on the topic and the doing of actions that are more appropriate. At least provide the options to do something about the topic rather than only reporting the fear factor. I say this because doing something positive feels better, actually improves on the situation, and can lead to more results that reflect innovation and invention. That is the key ingredient of humankind.

Yes, we can be negative and destructive. That is part of human nature, too. But shouldn’t we at least try to be positive and focus on those outcomes? Why dwell on the negative when positive is much more self-actualizing.

The pandemic is/was a horrible thing. A million Americans died of COVID. Millions more suffered through the many forms of COVID and the health problems they spawned or worsened. Families affected by loved ones with COVID expanded the negative impact by tens of millions more.

The pandemic had its good side, though. Think about our quarantines that created better family bonds. Remember the vast movement toward working from home. Recall a burst of technological offerings that will likely remain functioning for higher productivity and connection than before the pandemic. Think upon that. See the vast improvements we survivors have witnessed and still use going forward.

There is much positive in the world. We should use it daily to outweigh the negative. It is not difficult. We merely have to see the glass as half full rather than half empty.

September 30, 2022

     

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