Sleepily shuffling out to the end of my driveway to get my home-delivered Wall Street Journal this morning, a daily activity that always reminds me of Tony Soprano who did the same (each time reminding me that James Gandolfini is dead and making me sad), I was dismayed to see, on the front page, a headline concerning the impending divorce of Bill and Melinda Gates. It's disheartening that the one-time bastion of global financial news, around since 1889, now regularly engages in the sort of gossip-mongering found in the National Enquirer and The Globe.
Okay, so maybe not. Not wanting to rush to judgement, I stopped to consider whether Bill and Melinda's breakup could impact my life in any way. Or anyone's life in any way besides the members of the Gates family. I decided that no, it could not.
Outside of the pandemic, most of the so-called news has nothing to do with me, or any of us for that matter. Reading about foreign wars, refugee boats sinking with scores of people lost, and police shootings in distant cities serves only to heighten our anxiety and increase the number of antidepressant prescriptions written, further fattening the wallets of doctors and pharmaceutical executives, not to mention fueling more suicides and drug overdoses.
Gardening in your own backyard is a far safer, and healthier, bet. My daffodils are in full chaotic bloom and the clematis and hostas are already showing up!
No comments:
Post a Comment