What to do when the news gets you down

The past 2 months have been very difficult weeks in the news. Between the Orlando massacre, the crazed truck driver in Nice who killed so many, the coup in Turkey, the election here in Australia, the Republican and Democratic conventions, the Brexit vote and change of Prime Ministers in the United Kingdom, it is enough to make your head spin. We have politicians getting elected on how much they can scare people. We have media outlets who are using crisis after crisis to garner ratings. All of the news seems bad, bad, bad.

What can one do in the midst of such a barrage of disaster stories? Well there are a few approaches. The first approach is to just adopt an attitude that things are going to hell in a handbasket approach. Things are just getting worse and worse and things were never so good as in the glory days. I have problems with this approach. First of all, the olden days were anything but glorious. There was no such things as human rights or labour rights. There were things such as slavery. Secondly, the world is going to hell in a handbasket approach fails to look at the good things that are happening right now. Yes there are many problems in the world right now, but people are still kind, do heroic deeds, go out of their way to help strangers, and make the world a better place to live. These good deeds may not get the same news coverage time, but they are still happen. Curmudgeons, who see the world through dark glasses and see the past as idyllic, miss the good of now and hope for the future.

A second approach might be to turn off all the news. We don't have to watch the news or read the papers anymore. We can, in this 500 channel universe, watch sitcoms or soap operas all day long. This is what I call the ostrich approach or the head in the sand approach. I have problems with this way of thinking as well. A strong part of my makeup means that I feel compassion for others. I want to cry when others cry. I ached when I heard about the devastating tsunami in 2004 or the horrible earthquake in Haiti in 2011. Turning off the news means that I won't be aware of the needs of my global brothers and sisters. So for me being an ostrich is not a good option.

In my life time many momentous things have happened, some good, some bad- the Viet Nam war, famine in India and Bangladesh, genocide in Rwanda and Burundi, wars in the Gulf States, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of Apartheid, and even a few Grey Cup wins for the Saskatchewan Roughriders (my Canadian Football team). But my grandfather in his 91 years in the planet faced many tumultuous and wonderful events as well- WWI and WWII, the great depression, women getting the vote, the Hindenberg, the Titanic, the flight of the Wright brothers, and the invention of antibiotics. I don't think his history is any less topsy turvy then mine, but the difference is that now I get to see it in my living room 24/7 and with constant commentary. History has its dull moments and times when everything happens all at once. But in 100 years from now, who knows what things history will remember. To some future curmudgeons in the year 2116, today may seem like a peaceful interlude when everything was wonderful. And I imagine that there will be future ostriches who just wish that the news of their day would just go away.

Everyone counts

Have you ever noticed that our newscasts value some lives more than others. Last week we listened in horror to the news that someone with a truck and guns murdered 84 people in Nice. It is horrible. How could this have happened? One quarter of the nightly newscast was dedicated to this story. During the past year, other such attacks have been major news stories: Paris, Brussels, and Orlando to name a few. But googling a list of other attacks this year, it was quite frightening to realise that there are so many other places that have suffered such attrocities. Oh some I had heard mention of in the news: the attacks in Jakarta, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, but countless other places have had barely a mention in the news Iraq, Syria, Egypt, India, Bangladesh, Somalia, and Nigeria to name a few. Why is it that some places seem so important, while others get barely a mention?

I am also amazed at how some people get such news coverage, while other people get ignored. Pauline Hanson, the senator elect, has tv cameras flocking to her door to catch her controversial statements. Donald Trump is able to make the news with one bombastic statement after another. But other politicians who work very hard for their constituents are never mentioned. Certain sports figures, like Jarryd Haynes, get almost daily coverage in the news (whether they are winning or not) while other athletes get totally ignored. One missing child gets a 10 minute story on the newscast while another missing child does not get mentioned for weeks. Why are some newsmakers such press darlings, while other news stories get no mention at all?

It seems to me we have forgotten. All lives are important. Not just some. But it is obvious from the fact that several action groups have had to call society into account and remind us that we are not a society of equality that we believe that we are.  Movements like Black Lives Matter, It Gets Better Project, the Aboriginal and Torres Island Straight Congress, and countless others all help to remind us that we have so much further to come in order that all lives are treated with the same value.

Now don't get me wrong. I do mourn for the lives of all those who were killed in Nice, 9/11, and in Paris. Their deaths are a great tragedy. I also mourn for those who were killed in other extremist attacks that barely rated a mention on our news (the people of Dhaka, Medina, Turkey, and Indonesia).  Their deaths weigh on me as well. I cry for the mother who's face is on the news talking about her missing daughter. I also cry for other parents who have missing children but the news seems to forget them. I do marvel at anyone who gives of their time and serves in politics, including those back benchers who just quietly do their jobs while others are in the limelight. Finally, I marvel at the gifts of all athletes, even the ones who finish well back in the race. Everyone is important.

We live in a world of sound bites. We have become a society obsessed with who can grab the limelight and hold our attention the longest. Both Donald Trump and Pauline Hanson know this. But we need to remind ourselves that for every camera hog, there are millions of other important stories that go untold. For every headline, there are countless other stories that have not been told. For every feature story on a politician or a sports champion, there are thousands of other people who work just as hard who go unnoticed. We need to look beyond the sound bites and the media darlings though and have compassion for all not just for some. Blessings.

What will you be remembered for?

A question that I have asked congregations when I have done consulting work is how the congregation is known in the wider community. What is their reputation? What would Joe or Joan Blow from the neighbourhood say is this congregation's greatest asset that they share with a community? Too often congregational members do not know how to answer this question. Or they will immediately jump to the easy conclusion that the community would miss the rental space that the church has to offer. However when I push them and say what spiritual offerings would the community miss if the church was no longer there or when I say that any community centre could be doing the same thing, many congregants seem dumbfounded. What do we have to offer?

Often times, though, when I research the congregations, I discover that they do many things for the community that they take for granted. Supporting community initiatives like taking donations for refugees, offering classes for congregants and community members alike, going to meetings about various social causes and neighbourhood concerns, offering help to the poor and needy, being a place where people can come and seek advice and find solace. Churches do this work and keep quiet about it. We in the church forget that we do contribute more than space to the neighbourhood; we provide a service. We are very shy about sharing the good news of the work that we do.

Yes there are exceptions to this understating of our case. Some congregations are all to willing to broadcast the good work that they do. Other congregations do a form of outreach ministry well for so long, that they forget that there are other needs in the community. But from what I have seen, many churches do many good works quietly and do not share this good news with anyone.

The same goes for people I think. Yes there are those who overstate the amount of help that they give to others. But most people do very little to share the good news that they are trying to make some piece of the world a better place. I think this is to our detriment. Sometimes the world can seem to be as Jacob Marley states in Dicken's, A Christmas Carol, a hard place. But if I come to understand that Mary does work with refugees, Sam supports famine victims in Africa, Nancy works with people who are depressed, and Peter assists street people, then maybe I can see light in the darkness. Just like those countless churches that quietly do so much good work, we need to share the news of the quiet work we do. Then maybe our world will seem to be a kinder place. Blessings.