Sunday This and That

 

And, so it begins. 

Autumn is not far off. 

First, a single leaf stands out from the crowd of green with its gold or rustic red hue. 

One leads to another and another, and soon the whole bush or tree has turned to autumn brilliance. 

Soon after that comes the dead season. 

As we watched expectantly a few months ago, baby leaves came to the surface and popped out from their buds for their summer show.  It won't be long when they will disappear with the wind or from their own demise. 

I was looking at the cottonwood leaves behind the barn this morning.  They have formed a bland carpet at the base of their trees and all around the lawn. Have I ever said how much I hate cottonwood leaves?  They tend to be ugly.  

Lots to pick up already, I thought, while watering the pumpkins and potatoes. 

Then, after looking up at the trees, I was soon aware that those on the ground were just the tip of the iceberg as far as leaf clean-up. 

Maybe I'd better grab a rake and get started, I thought, knowing that keeping up with what was yet to come will be challenging. 

And so, the rakes will start getting some action, and soon the bags will go on the back of the lawnmower for their fall work. 

I see endless trips around the yard in the future. 

For now, it's fun to spot those early colorful leaves putting on a show of their own among their friends. 

They are pretty, and because they are soloists, they are getting all the attention.  

It's been quite the week on the national level. Yesterday I did my best to stay away from social media cuz it's not a nice place to be hanging out right now. 

I have decided that the old days of looking at headlines and pictures in the National Enquirer, while standing in line at the grocery store, were pretty tame compared to the extremes we can encounter 24-7 on social media should we choose to do so. 

The National Enquirer was pretty much sensational smut.  The stuff we see on social media, however, appears to be the National Enquirer on steroids. 

Unlike the fact that some unknown smut journalist-- usually a pretty good writer--crafted the National Enquirer news, we no longer need trained journalists or even good writers to provide the abundance of "news" we can swallow or choke on virtually every minute of every day.

No credentials necessary for spreading the dark details, the hate or the made-up stories. 

Just a keyboard and an angry finger to point. 

Those are all it takes. 

So, this week we have seen an abundance of different takes on the major stories. 

The part I really don't like shows up in the blame games that go on continuously----only two groups to blame.  Those are the right and the left. 

My question to all of these news providers:  what about those of us poor saps in the middle? I think there are a lot of us, and it's probably best that we are oten left out of the mix.   

Have we done bad things?  

Or, are we simply ignored because we tend to be moderate middle-of the roaders who wince or gasp or even sometimes want to vomit at the extremes? 

I know you're not supposed to drive in the middle of the road, but I always thought that whatever drives our thinking could land in the middle any old time.

 Silly me. 

Anywho, after all my personal mutterings, it's time to introduce what I thought was some sensible wisdom after reading the following Facebook post this morning. 

The author, Heather Killen, is a former student from Sandpoint High. 

As her English teacher, I'd give her an A-plus. 

So, some food for thought on the present state of affairs from Dr. Killen. Hope you find it helpful. 

Here's my take on this moment in our country. We are in a dangerous mess. And if we don't all start working to find what we agree on, we are going to collectively shift the path of our country from prosperity and flourishing to ruin.

I see two things everyone can do immediately: (1) step away from your political social media and (2) spend a week exploring, watching, and reading the other side's professional news in a sincere, open, curious effort to understand why people are feeling the way they are feeling. 

Pay particular attention to the comment sections to see how the core audience is reacting to the news.

 Read the comments on digital articles from the New York Times (your local library will have an option for a 72 hour pass. Often you can get another once one runs out). 

The Fox News site has a free, active comment section if you scroll past all the ads at the end of an article).

As humans, we are still driven by old survival instincts. We subconsciously think about who our people are and who they are not, and therefore whom we should trust and whom we should be afraid of. This results in one particular, not logical, behavior. 

When people we have become afraid of do something terrible we think, "Look, I was right to be afraid, *all* those people are terrible." And when people we have come to trust do something terrible, we think, "Oh, that is a shame, there was *one* bad apple." 

Social media, with its ability to count how many milliseconds you pause on a post and track every last thing you click on, feeds this thinking by showing you more and more of what you agree with. 

Social media becomes a toxic amplifier of our natural survival instincts. We need to break out. 

We all need to work to understand *why* the right is feeling so fearful and persecuted and angry right now and *why* the left is feeling so fearful and persecuted and angry right now. 

The exact same emotions are driving both groups. We have that, and much, much more, in common. 

Love to you all.   

Thanks, Heather. 

Happy Sunday to all.