Good News is a Snooze

Here in Maine we are in the middle of a non-hurricane. As you might guess, it is not windy, not raining, and not life-threatening in any way. No roofs are being torn off, no streets are flooded and nary a tree has been uprooted. Best of all, or worst depending on how much stock you own in The Weather Channel, there are no power outages anywhere.

I find this annoying, since yesterday afternoon I spent about two hours carting all my outdoor flowering potted plants inside, lest they get drenched and/or blown to smithereens from the projected destructive winds of Hurricane Lee, even though it was ever only a Category 1 storm that was, BTW, never expected to make landfall. But those facts did not deter all the newscasters and weather forecasters from hawking their usual hysteria. After all, as my husband explained to me, bad news gets views and thus sells more advertising while good news is a snooze.

It's a shame that our collective psyches don't respond to pleasantries instead of horror. Imagine if you woke up to those dorks on The Weather Channel reporting, "This morning the sunrise was absolutely spectacular, I hope you caught it!" Or, "Be sure to check out tonight's moon, it will instill you with a sense of calm and blissfulness." 

Instead we are repeatedly told, this particular time non-stop for more than a week in advance, to head for the hills, seek shelter, stock up on food and batteries, cancel all outdoor activities and plan on hunkering down until the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad storm passes. And for God's sake don't get caught in any rip currents for they will truly be life-threatening. (Aren't they always?)

My best advice for staying in a good mood: Never watch the news. If your roof flies off you can deal with it then.