Hey there, awesome readers!
There are a few life updates going on here at Moxie-Dude headquarters that have nothing to do with this post but also everything to do with this post.
Unrelated: I’ve been staying with my mom.
Related: She listens to the news. ALL THE TIME.
Like many of you, my morning routine consists of opening my eyes and walking straight to the coffee machine. It’s a bit of a zombie dance but a necessary way of waking up the day. Since I’m staying with my mom, getting to the coffee machine now requires following a pathway through the TV room where my mom is usually already up and watching … you guessed it … the news.
On account of all news being BAD news, this sudden over-dose of a world gone hateful has been causing my brain to scream out, “WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OUR HUMANITY???”
This question is the inspiration for this post. And while the word “inspiration” usually invokes feelings of confidence in one’s ability to conquer the world (in a good way), in this context the word “inspiration” doesn’t mean that at all. In fact, quite the opposite. I’m feeling inspired to hide from the world.
In case you don’t know me in real life, I NEVER watch the news because I find it too “newsy”.
We interrupt this post for a trivia question …
Question: Why is the news called “the NEWS”?
Answer: North East West South. That is correct. NEWS is an acronym for the primary compass points.
Except that they (“they” being the people who invented this word: the news) kind of cheated because if you use the letters in order it becomes NESW.
But I guess saying, “I’m a nesw anchor” would have sounded weird.
Regardless, for me NEWS stands for Negative Events We Share. And since I try to stay away from most forms of negativity, it is my life choice to boycott the news. (I have enough with dealing with the Hamster, thank you.)
But now that I’m being exposed to the news on a daily basis, this sudden awareness of all the awfulness that humanity is capable of is creating chaos in my head.
Stories about people getting murdered.
Stories of families being separated due to ridiculousness.
Stories of children being abused and exploited.
Politics. (You can’t see me right now but I’ve just rolled my eyes at that last one.)
And so I ask again:
WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OUR HUMANITY???
But instead of hiding under my rock, today I’m going to intentionally spread kindness. Someone I know *cough Debbie* told me a story once about going through a Tim Hortons drive thru and arriving at the window to pay for her whatever and finding out that the car in front of her had paid for her order. Not a big deal and yet SUCH A BIG DEAL.
Well today I’m going to do something like that. Not sure what yet, but SOMETHING. I’ll let you know how it goes in a future post. (Hopefully my act of kindness will not be mistaken as craziness by a disheartened psycho. Hopefully.)
Meanwhile, here are some suggestions from a few bloggy friends of mine …
From sex educator, writer, and speaker, Walker Thornton:
“Nothing earth shattering here, but I’m trying to pause and smile and look people in the eye–store clerks, people I see on the street, waiters. I paused the other day in Target after rushing in to ask a question to a store employee. I backed up, relaxed, looked her in the eye, said ‘hello’ first then asked my question. Then I said ‘thank you’. It reminds me to be present and it lets them know I see them.”
This link from Lisa McDonald of Those2Girls provides volunteering opportunities for people in the Kitchener, Waterloo area.
(These suggestions are great no matter where you live.)
If you have any suggestions for random acts of kindness to help save our humanity, please share them in the comments.
Hugs,
M.
UPDATE: I’ve written a follow-up to this post, which you can read here.
I’m on a news cleanse. Just can’t handle this petty politics, stabbings and shootings. My suggestion is to make it a practice to compliment a stranger every time you’re in the grocery store whether it’s her shoes, her glasses, whatever. The smile on their face is almost addicting and makes you want to do it again. Brenda
Awesome suggestion, Brenda! Thanks for taking the time to share 🙂
In my neighborhood in Wisconsin, everyone waves to everyone. I’ve spilt hot coffee to avoid looking like an asshole. But when you force a smile and a wave first thing in the morning, it does set the bar a little higher.
Lol – The things we do to avoid looking like assholes (I’ve also spilt coffee on myself while rushing to get somewhere AND waving hello at the same time.) But you’re right. Taking the time to be kind does raise the bar!
I am so doing this
Awesome! Keep me posted!!! 🙂