Just the Facts

Alex and I have left our bed—awakened and gotten up—three times since it became Thursday (since midnight). I am happy to report that I have had no problems breathing at any of those times. Of course, I really wasn’t asleep on any of those times long enough to have become dependent upon the CPAP to force air into my nose.

I thank each of you who commented on my Tuesday’s blog for your concern and suggestions regarding my awakening breathing problems. As I mentioned in my responses to your comments, I have an appointment at the VA pulmonary care clinic on March 20^th for recertification of my oxygen therapy. While there I shall request to speak with a respiratory therapist and ask if I may be taught how to breathe.

Daily News ~ Tommy Paxton

The resent shooting rampages in Alabama and Germany have shocked and even frightened many people. One of the latter is my 86-year-old mother. Each time we have talked by telephone over the past few days, she has spoken of the homicides, the fear they provoke in her, and how, when she was young, these types of mass killings never took place.

I do not know about her last observation and haven’t the time at the moment to research such the history of such berserk killing sprees. However, I do understand how such news can incite fear in folks. I wonder how many people are dealing with that fright in the manner that my mother is: she has decided not to watch TV news programs.

As I reflected upon my mother’s decision to shun TV news shows, I realized that I have not been watching TV news for several years for a similar reason. It isn’t necessarily the horror stories that I desire to avoid, but it is my inability to select what stories are broadcast.

I don’t know about your local TV stations, but mine air a seemingly endless series of stories of automobile wrecks, fires, live reports of non-newsworthy events, and, of course, crime reports, each complete with video footage. I think while watching a 30-minute news program, I would be exposed to at least 25-minutes of worthless dribble. That now includes CNN and the other network news, with the usual (but not always) exception of the BBC.

Perhaps that is the reason that I prefer to obtain the news from old fashioned newspapers and the new technology of the Internet. I am able to use the same technique in screening information with both of those media—a technique that I have found effective for at least fifty years. I can quickly scan stories, beginning with their headlines and the first few lines, and decide what stories I want to read and what stories I don’t want to read. For example, if I find names such as Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, or Dr. Phil in a headline, I pass the stories by without even glancing at the first lines of the story.

These can be frightening times in which we live. However, we human beings have been living in what could be termed frightening times since the beginning of our existence: was that sound I heard behind me a saber-toothed tiger preparing to dine on me? Or, was it Alex sneaking up to claw at my genitals to get my attention?  

I see no reason to avoid information about what is going on in our world if one desires that information. However, I do think it is wise to avoid the news sources that exploit and sensationalize news. When I encounter such yellow journalism (if it can be truly called journalism) I have the urge to say, as Joe Friday supposedly (but not really) did week after week on Dragnet, “Just the facts, Mam. Just the facts.”