It's easy to focus on negative aspects of any situation. I think that most of us are more inclined to take notice of things when they don't go our way because we are so used to them going our way. I don't think that is inherently self-centered. A bit spoiled perhaps. Maybe I'm rehashing my sauce verse meat argument but I think it's indicative of the occidental (that's for you, Tank) world.
I'm not trying to point fingers or slander whole nations but think about the things of which we take notice. Think about the things that shake us out of our daily stupor. Tragedies. What's on the news? Wrecks, kidnappings, political fights, etc. Even though it isn't always indicative of the state of the world the aim of the content is grabbing our attention. Negative events accomplish the goal. It seems natural, even logical. Stopping to smell the roses is tough when in comparative terms your entire life is roses. Perhaps the negative events we notice are noticed to inflate our sense of self, to secure our sense of superiority, to mask the void we often feel.
What I found, or rather realized, is that I've had a lot of "complaints" on here and I didn't want to convey an ill defined picture of my life by focusing only on the little aggravations I experience. If anything I find humor in the aggravations and don't look at them in a negative light. In the spirit of optimism, I set out today to write about an inherently positive topic and ended up rambling about the world.
Maybe it is a stretch but my positive topic was bugs. I suppose I should say "lack of bugs" because they don't have them here. I've seen one bug since I got here. It was upon seeing the tiny little mite yesterday that the idea of positivity struck me. I took it as a harbinger of spring. Who needs robins when you have mites? Perhaps not having bugs in the winter isn't a huge deal. After spending a year and a half at the Roost (or the "Group Home" as my father and Nancy call it) waking up to roaches on the counter, I consider no bugs in the winter a significant perk. It's not exactly a life changing miracle but no bugs is a pretty comforting thing.
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2 comments:
To comment on the occidental media (does that usage work?), I think it's interesting how you relate the negative content presented to the fact that the majority of our lives are positive. This makes me realize the reason I don't watch the news and enjoy reading the newspaper every morning is because it gives me the choice to read what is interesting and ignore the sensational details of the tragic news events.
How about the news position, positive journalist? You would work for the Statesman and only write on the good things that are happening locally, statewide, and nationally. Maybe a biweekly piece, I think it would be hard and people would loose interest in reading about "good" stuff everyday. Moderation I guess. I'm sure there is only so much good news people can handle.
-t
Usage seems legitimate to me.
There's always a happy story out there. If you can convince Asher to hire me on, I'm there.
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