Stay in Touch - Story and Poem "Television and Newspapers"
Television is one of our greatest assets that we have.
It connects and brings the world together in an instant.
It has great documentaries on all aspects of life, which are real, true and a joyful learning process.
It is a good teacher, it gives us a choice of what to watch whether entertainment or to educate us.
It shows us competitive spirit in many sporting contests.
It shows us some awesome comedy shows especially coming out of England
Unfortunately there is a strong negative aspect that is conditioning and controlling our society which overshadows these positive aspects of TV.
The SOAPS that I was a fan of at one time are full of distrust, relationships not working, people cheating on each other, families not getting on.
Generally there is no resolving of the issue's or showing us people doing well in life.
Television is one of our best educating tools, but I'm afraid soaps show us is how to fail, through their conditioning they have become a reflection of family and community life, very separated.
They are the most popular aspects of TV and that is sad, I believe it is like that because they see people worse off than themselves, which makes them feel better. It conditions those that watch it to experience the same fears and distrust. This is not a way to resolve our issues, we have to take responsibility for our own life.
Its a shame the soaps don't show us this.
The NEWS is another aspect of TV that has the biggest viewing figures and it too is full of negativity.
Again people say they must know what is going on and yet at the same time we all want to live in a peaceful world, yet it shows us exactly the opposite.
Sure there is a lot of violence, aggression, injustice that we do on one level need to know about, but it is so repetitive, it is also on the radio every hour and it is all over the newspapers, no wonder the world is in such a state and all this is a minority to what is really going on positively and peacefully.
For every bit of news we see there is at least a thousand success stories or aspects of our world that is creating positive change.
Until our news and newspapers give us more positive stuff I for one will not watch, support or buy into its negativity.
In 1984 on Easter Sunday I made a conscious decision not to watch the news, it took me a some years to fully implement that, but once I did my life became more positive and balanced.
I am more concerned in what is going on in my own community which I can be part of and help make a difference. Unfortunately the majority of people are focused elsewhere, which they can't do nothing about only take on board all the fear and distrust it creates.
Our communities are looking for support and positive change, for it to be a safer place for the elderly and the young to walk and play in.
In England the Queens Silver Jubilee celebrations in the 70's brought together communities right across England, every one said how good it was to have a street party and get to know everyone, we should do it every year. But unfortunately it never happened.
Maybe by connecting back to the News and soaps all that togetherness dissipated fast, why do we do it to ourselves. We are supposed to be becoming more intelligent and wiser as the years roll by, yet the fear, distrust and separation in our communities is still our biggest issue.
I believe the TV and newspapers controlling our lives with negativity keeps us stuck.
Since I have detached myself from this negativity I have got back control of my own life and I have found a healthy balance.
Here's a poem I wrote about the subject.
Newspapers and television, have a lot to answer for,
Filling us with negativity, showing us how to even the score,
When I don’t read and watch this stuff,
My life is full and positive, no longer rough.
Are editors and scriptwriters at peace?
With all they have created, how can they sleep?
They ridicule, judge and they blame,
To be the best, life is not a game.
Innocent children trying to grow,
Mans greed gets in the way of that flow,
Having a go at the young for getting high,
What have they to look forward to in this life?
Families, society, failing on their path,
We’ve lost the art of coming from the heart,
We should be healthy roll models for our young,
To learn from us, to grow and become strong.
All they see is anger and distrust,
People unhappy and in a rut,
Stealing, cheating, secrets and lies,
They want a different life, so they get high,
Wake up newspapers and television,
Give us hope with some vision,
You’ve helped to create this mess,
Give us positive TV and positive PRESS.