I'm suffering from Internet-outrage fatigue syndrome lately. I read a couple of blogs that comment on current affairs, and lately I find myself skimming them, because I just can't take another outraged commentary on something that has happened. I'm tired of it. It robs my joy, and colors my mood. So I'm going to seek out positive input, look for the good, the bright, the lovely. I'm going to refocus my mind on the beautiful, and on developing inner calm. For those who celebrate Christmas tomorrow, may your day be bright and merry. (We will celebrate Russian style on the 7th, and so will observe the feast of St. Herman of Alaska tomorrow with a festive salmon meal)
"But as with our current diet, the more you feast on negativity, the more you start craving it. After all, it’s as easy as popping a frozen pizza in the microwave, and more is always there at the store. So you start spending more of your time looking for reasons to be angry, and things that can be held in contempt, so that you can put on another exhibition of verbal superiority for your audience.
These days, 90 percent of the Internet could be subtitled “here’s another thing to hate.” I have a pet theory about why this is — why so many people spend so much time on the Internet looking to be enraged: Getting mad short-circuits anxiety, particularly anxiety about the economy, and our own eventual deaths. But whatever the reason, it doesn’t seem like a great way to spend whatever time I have left on this planet. Because there’s one thing that I never am when I am busy being hilariously outraged and offended, and that is happy."
Megan McArdle "Why I Try Not to Write Bad Reviews" via Rod Dreher in "The Kindness of Strangers"
WOW, that is a fabulous quote!!!
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