How I Tackle The News, A Possible Guide on How You Would Too (given you were me!)

(An Essay in Two Parts)

       “Talk about empathy…”

                                                                                 ---Me, Ado (recently)

If your world is defined by the News,
Carefully articulated by BBC World even...and you know it's true

British Broadcasting Corporation

Then you know life is beset with bad news and you're actually there ready to face it 

intrepidly, if only by sitting on your couch and tuning in.

If there's one constant thing in life and you are increasingly made aware of it; it's natural disasters, banking or money problems, political factions,
government dissatisfactions, and massive human fails!
In one word or two: Bad News!  Everywhere.  Anytime !
(Courtesy of BBC and other news outfits/presses)

In this technologically advancing global village we live in

(for we simply couldn't stop the industrial wheel from moving forward any more 

than we'd like to go back to the "reassuring times” of the Middle Ages perhaps
or if you would prefer, the time of Jesus Christ himself; 

Where air pollution and television realities were unheard of), 

We just couldn't get away from facing the News, which by default, is Bad and

sometimes given to us in plain and simple English.

You may be holding a shiny new iPad in your hands while leisurely sipping sweet hot espresso in your immaculately white
living room divan (or your favorite Chesterfield/Starbucks Cafe place);

but you're still looking at Sudanese people suffer in Genocidal Proportions
or some Featured Atrocity taking place in a Third World country somewhere...

and more than simply being stunned, you find yourself completely helpless
by the terrible news and simply shun away from it all ! 

Truly a proposition unheard of even in the time of Jimmy Carter just several years back
…when things or events were relatively less intense! 
(You can correct me on this…but this is my own personal reality.)

Face it, People of the World! 

This is the modern, Present Times;

New Reality or even World Order ! 

All at once perilous and exciting if you think about it! 

We're all breathing the same Air, even if Mountain may be more

exhilarating than City to some noticeable degree and benefit ! 

But with the way things have been speeding up lately,

It might not be long before one catches up with the other...

technologies and world Winds i.e.!

So C'mon people and Blog Readers from All over! Unite with Me on this one!

Now a word on different Views or how different people would “look” at things:

If you were a regularly-employed working class Pessimist and didn't believe 

Too much of anything and in anything except maybe the delight of 

seeing your cat play funny tricks or poses for you as you reach home,

but considered most of the world as crap going down The Hole anyway, 

then you've somehow accepted that 95% of the earth (percentage a variable 

number leaning closer to the value of absolutely 100% Sure with a 

plus or minus 5% margin for error) is truly wasteland 

comprised of  "wasted" and wasteful people (in a figurative way, of course!)

It would be a good idea therefore to embrace the general darkness of 

your surroundings and be wily enough to see in the dark. 

In other words, cope despite! Or as things are with you, cope with spite !

Now if you are an Optimist bent on seeing the light of day no matter what (calamity) 

is out there; you still have to accept the fact that there could be no light where 

there is no darkness and the good contrast usually occurs with a just a little amount 

of luminosity or brilliance standing out in literally a sea engulfed in darkness. 

(For e.g. Imagine lighting a candle instead of cursing your Electric Co. 

in times of brownouts or visualizing Disney's "I'll be your candle in the water..." 

theme song and please use the better of your imaginations!) 

Thinking beyond the obvious or "actual scene" and thinking Inspirational thoughts 

is what usually sets the true Optimist apart from and above the rest, 

...and don't they just love this! 

Being one and being so self-assured, you would look at life with 

such sophisticated discernment, the whole world would seem
almost white to the point of being white-washed! 

I'm straying from the point I know and sometimes it just feels good for me to do so, but the fact remains that even with things so nice, neat and perfect... 

perfectly clear and white i.e.; 5% of your so-called "everything" 

would still be comprised of black or darkness, blotchiness and mess,

ugliness and sadness…not that there’s anything wrong with that!  Heavens no!

The point is you’ve somehow managed to keep things in good perspective.

The basic point however, of distinguishing one “popular approach” from the other, is that things All boil down to a matter of distribution and allocation; 

the Pessimist being more aware of life's looming eventualities that hang over him 

like droopy wet laundry under overcast skies, getting ready for it and
coping and going through life albeit dismally; 

and the Optimist focusing largely on light or white, beauty and brilliance if only 

not to lose his personal Poise or Gracefulness, a very conscious, active; deliberate 

choice on matters at hand ! Life is a combination of light and dark and there's just NO 

getting around this, except by accepting it and taking a stand and sticking to it ! 

& this is what defines you. 

Hang on as I babble at his point!

Now that we're on the subject of popular "views" and "viewpoints",                    
one not necessarily being better than the other but still open
to a fair mental quarrel, the word Pragmatic just pops up, doesn't it?!!

Pragmatists would define themselves as neither belonging to an 

opposing "extreme" by nature of choosing not to be pigeonholed to
one popular Polarity or mental set (not that I’m hinting at any
psychological disorder or clinical condition...and if so, what if I am?) 

or simply wanting to be a centrist, considering himself fair and balanced 

all the way and perfectly Practical !

Pragmatists would allocate 50% to light and 50% to darkness, no matter how boring 

the consequences may be or it's obvious predictable consistency because this is precisely 

what they're after: maintaining an even keel to control life’s turbulent incursions!

Nothing adamant, colorful or intense...to the point of being looked upon
as absurd by your polar counterpart!  Just keeping your cool ! 

A Mondrian

Re-imagine Mondrian shapes if you may, in alternating black and white and 
uneven sequences or Even Gray Boxes arranged and looking like a chess board. 

It's by all means a valid stance and truly appealing especially
to the self-proclaimed and openly gregarious amongst us!

__________________

Now that I've laid down the premise of how one looks at the news, or even how 

I would tackle the dailies if you will, let me go on...

... & Share with you my personal "take" on a relatively run-of-the-mill news story on 33 Chilean miners trapped in an old,
run-down mine...or one would think so. 

It's a run-of-the-mill story because it's a common occurrence 

to be trapped inside a mine, for God's sake! 

How many times have you heard on no mishaps ever happening

inside or surrounding deeply-dug holes??!! 

Presumably, there will be more mishaps than “happy endings”

with stories concerning mines!
It’s part of the nature of working so deep and underground!

But this has captured my imagination as well as curiosity,
as I'm sure others' as well, due in large part because
of keeping up and sticking with 

the News and getting updated on What's Happening right now! 

This is just a line break and its obligatory link

Part Deux:  Or why I am so intrigued by the Story

On   Miners  and   Mining.
On Working and Wanting.
. . .   M   O   R   E   !

(A Reflection on The Recent Successful Chilean Mining Salvage Operation 

that captured the imagination of a worldwide audience!

As seen all across BBC and the Globe!

~~~ As told by Me Me Me

But which you can do as Well Well ~Well !!!)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

We are all Miners

Trapped in the chambers of our own Existence;

Trapped in the deep intricate caverns of our own Making;

Waiting and Wanting to be Lifted out of our own Laborious, at times 

sSSuffocatingly dark dungeons that we dug up Ourselves...


Making it Home for a few months at a time...


Not knowing when the true light of day has come or if it has indeed set,
Not being anymore aware of what a Daisy's touch can do to calloused fingers 

or even a heart so badly beaten...by endless work!


For having toiled this earth in search of treasures literally untold not by the bulk 

but through trickles; we trudge along not entirely willing but resigned, 

and hope for the best...like maybe not being consumed long before you can consume...

not being exhumed before excavation...you know the drill, so to speak...

(...to be continued tomorrow) 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
...although tomorrow never comes. 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
("not in these here mines, they don't") 
[insert graphic here: :^}]

Nov 8, 2010 is Snow White's Birthday