A couple months ago I was helping my daughter with her Arizona project. One of the requirements was a poster highlighting a current event from the state. I went online, scrolled through murder, after fire, after assault, after trial, after teacher strike. I could almost hear Jack Johnson humming Where’d all the good people go, I’ve been changing channels, I don’t see them on the TV shows. Four pages of bad news, headlines like Woman’s body found or Man struck, killed by car, with attractive photos of the people alive before they were decomposed, crushed, dead. I finally found Taylor Swift’s smiling face, arm and arm with foster children on the top of the 5th page. She’d given a free concert to the kids with pizza. Thank you Newsday, thank you Taylor Swift. We live in the era of self-fulfilling media prophecy, read about killing, go out and kill someone. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Are we all addicted to violence? Someone is reading the articles. Awhile back I let it all go, the news, the football, the MMA, the suffering, the injuries, the bruises. What does it mean to live peace? (I’m preaching now). Slowly move your fingers away from the computer, let the news go, let the violence go, vote with your time, give it to life, to peace.
