Recently, an acquaintance told us that a long-time friend of hers discovered her husband had been living a double life! This guy used to fly to Argentina all the time, and the wife always thought it was for business – which it was, but there was a lot more to the story. After his sudden, tragic death, she found out he had a whole other life – another home, wife, and kids. The tale was just incredulous – but it came from a reliable source, was true, and oh-so-juicy.
And, we re-told this story to people at gatherings. It was a great story.
Who doesn’t like a good story like that?
Then it dawned on me: That’s what the news is filled with.
The news is chock-full of incredible, almost unbelievable stories of shocking things that people do. A snake is found in a used couch. Someone goes ballistic and hurts people in a movie theater. A parent is raising 10 kids in a double-wide trailer. A top athlete, once regarded as a role model, is found to be using performance-enhancing substances.
We watch, listen to, and consume news that is filled with these kinds of stories.
Why?
The answer people give is usually a variation of, “I want/need to be informed of what’s going on in the world.” But really, I think we like the sensational stories.
I’m going to challenge you to give up on the world’s news for a week. In its stead, focus on the withdrawal. Give yourself permission not to know what terrible things are going on “out there” and pay attention to what you feel as a result of not knowing.
If every time you called me or every time you came to my house, all I talked for a half hour about incredible stories of craziness, you’d think, “I don’t want to go to his house anymore. Enough!”
How about the news you watch, listen to, and read?
Do a cost/benefit analysis: what are you getting out of keeping up with the news? Is it helping you? Is it putting you in a constant state of fear, disgust, or disappointment? Are you getting more good from it than not? And, because I find it amusing, I will prooftext my admonition to refrain from the news with a Biblical quote: “Do not turn to a medium or necromancer; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them.” (Leviticus 19:31) We know that the plural of medium is media.
This week’s spiritual-religious advice:
Take a break from the news gossip.
With love,
Lifeboats. Summer. Bridges. Helpers.
January 10, 2026
Lifeboats. Summer. Bridges. Helpers. The rapid succession of a toddler-drunk-on-power messes is overwhelming. I’m exhausted by the sheer number of (what seem to me) reprehensible acts. My country is sickening me. federal agents shooting at (and killing) civilians actions against immigrants, federal workers, the environment, reproductive rights invading a sovereign nation and abducting its leader pardoning people who committed reprehensible
