This Is My Brain On Ostrich
Wordsworth wrote a sonnet entitled “The World is Too Much With Us”. It has to do with how we let material things take our focus away from the natural world, but it’s not the sonnet itself that is resonating with me right now as much as the title.
The world is too much with me.
I work very hard at staying current. I watch the news, read the news, listen to the news, and read talk about the news. I understand the global oil crisis. I follow the presidential campaigns. I made major changes to our home life to reduce our carbon footprint. I stripped our house of BPA and lead based toys. I get all of the Omega-3’s and poly-phenols I can handle. Lets not even start on the truckload of vapid celebrity trivia I also consume like so many Oreos.
On Monday, I had to pull over for a few minutes because listening to Melissa Block on NPR describe the horror of the parents outside that school in China waiting for word on their children’s fate reduced me to a state that made me a danger to my fellow commuters.
OK, it isn’t unreasonable that a story like that would reduce me to tears. I am a mother who drops her kids off at “school” every day, and imagining what it would feel like to stand outside that school and watch cranes lift debris off of my children’s classroom and watching bodies being carried out and seeing gray little faces and and hoping that they will breathe again, would reduce most anyone to tears.
But I didn’t sleep much that night thinking about it. And it stayed with me all the next day, and again today. And it isn’t just the earthquake in China. Its the cyclone, and the tornadoes and the child killing virus. And on and on.
Enough is indeed, enough. So for the next few days I am taking a break from the news, and the commentary and the debates. And while I do believe that “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” I also know that I need this. I will not be able to do much good if I am hiding in the corner of my bathroom sucking on my robe.
I will still be trolling the blog world though, where you wonderful people entertain and amuse and lighten me. The “Links of Love” has been a huge open door to new and wonderful writers. Skip on over to Bill and Jill for a reminiscence of summers past that will make you swear you here the screen door slam. Or hop over to The Grammar Snob to see if your trunk is as woefully clogged as hers (she is my trunk twin). And then there is always FOOD. Smitten Kitchen has a recipe for Crispy Salted Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies that looks divine. (I know where my 35 Weight Watchers flex points will be going this week). And Chop, Stir Mix’s Slow Cooker Pulled Pork is on deck for tomorrow nights dinner at my house.
I may have my head in the sand, but a girl still needs to eat.
Filed under: Girl in the World
First, I love Melissa Block. Not sure why, but she’s one of my girl crushes.
I know exactly what you’re saying. When Hurricane Katrina hit, my kids were itty bitty, and I spent seemingly days in front of the TV, watching the coverage. I saw things that made me almost vomit through tears, which is the worst emotion ever. I finally had to turn off the news, stop watching and try to think about something else to save my own sanity.
I love this new Links of Love thing…it rules. Slow cooker pulled pork? I believe I can shave some points off the next few days to save up for that.
Ooops - stay away from my blog today then. I had a night just like yours - and almost packed my bags so I could move to Africa and volunteer at a hospital there.
Good for you; I think it’s a great idea to take a break from the news. Sometimes the terrible things that happen every day outside our own little safety bubble just get to be overwhelming.
Dude, I know exactly what you mean. I have been avoiding “human interest” stories for about 6 months now because they just shred me. At night, when I should be powering down, my brian seizes on whatever the child horror story of the day is and twists it to be about my boys. I know that sounds sickeningly self-obsessed and like I’m making someone else’s pain all about me Me ME!, but I think it’s my way of empathizing with the child and/or parent…except my brain jaws lock on it and won’t let go.
Every night, I have to trick myself into *not* thinking about some abhorrent shit. Know what I do? I pick a random number, let’s say 58. Then, I spell the number out backwards in my head, t-h-g-i-e y-t-f-i-f, and move on to 59. It occupies my mind enough so that I don’t focus on the story and can fall asleep. Of course, an Ambien/Zoloft cocktail with a Cuervo chaser would do the trick too…
All that was to say, I feel ya.
Also, thanks for the mention in your post!
Jill (not Bill)
I oughta try that. My trick when I really, really, really can’t get my mind to shut off is to count, by sevens, both up and down to/from 100, each number timed with a breath, i.e.:
in - 1; out - 100; in - 8; out - 93; in - 15; out - 86; etc.
most of the time I get horribly screwed up, and start over, or pick a random place to start, but it keeps me from ruminating on stuff that I can do nothing about at 1:00 am.
Oooooh. That’s a good one too, BretCB! *taking notes*