Find the Laughter
Walk outside your door any day of the week and you're going to get hit with it.
Violence, in the form of suicides, homicides, mass shootings, drive-by shootings, beatings, rapes, stabbings, clubbings, etc. Death, destruction, sadness, grief, verbal abuse, physical abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault, molestations, the list goes on and on. You'll find it on television, in newspapers, and on the radio.
It's everywhere and unfortunately, just a part of today's society. But why? Why is American society like this? Now granted, I am just as proud as the next guy to be an American, and I love this country and would fight and die for it. But it just saddens me to see society in our country regressing in so many ways instead of progressing, which should be done to ensure a bright future for children and young people who hold the fate of our nation in their hands.
Which brings me to another question. What is the solution -- if there even is one -- to such a problem? There may not be one. These situations and problems are evident now, they were evident years ago, and they will still be around in several years when I am dead and gone. My son will witness horrific atrocities and tragedies as he grows older, as will his children and grandchildren.
There's no getting around it, the negative stuff will always be there. But what can we do about it? Become overwhelmed by all that is happening around us, therefore allowing ourselves to negatively be affected by it? Or can we focus so intently during our day that we are not distracted by what is happening around us, but only on ourselves, our loved ones, and the task at hand, whatever that may be. Because as terrible as some news stories are, some of them don't affect us at all, right?
Sometimes we are just so enthralled by what the media throws at us (yes I am a reporter and yes, I do know this is true) that we somehow feel ourselves becoming personally involved, even if the incident happened miles away or even in another part of the world. So, what exactly is the solution here?
For me, it is sometimes inevitable that I will be bombarded with bad news throughout the day. News that affects me personally, sometimes making me sad. Sometimes angry. Sometimes depressed. Sometimes I feel no emotions at all. But you know what? I try as hard as I can to not let whatever it is affect me. My personal problems are no one else's to deal with, so why bring them to work with me, bringing others down into my misery when they have nothing to do with it? That just doesn't make sense.
But just to make it through the day, I feel the logical thing to do is to find my center. The thing that makes me happiest in the world, and realize that no matter how bad things may get, they probably could be a lot worse. With me, I try to make people laugh, and laugh right along with them because there is absolutely no better medicine than laughter, an often perfect prescription for a day gone awry. Sometimes people can take themselves, other people or their job too seriously and find no time to be light hearted or to laugh. This is simply a recipe for disaster in my opinion.
Now I'm not saying that it is always appropriate to laugh. In fact, sometimes it is simply inappropriate. But I think many of those times that "turning a frown upside down" is the best way to make a person instantly feel better about themselves and their current station in life.
Now I know I'm not a psychiatrist. I'm just speaking from experience here.
So, as a final thought I guess, when you go to work tomorrow and you just know it's going to be a bad day with everything that is happening in your life, and negative news around the world has got you down and depressed, remember one thing:
Find the laughter.