Giving up the news for Lent is harder than I thought it would be. Sitting in a meeting of marginal interest this afternoon and fiddling with my iPhone I thought about just taking a quick look at the market and checking what might be on Politico, but laid that aside in favor of checking on the weather in the places where we have family.
I already gave myself leeway to take a quick read of our local daily because that’s usually about all it takes anyway. So I can report that there will be a class on using scrap glass to decorate bowls, high speed chases seem to be more popular in the county but everyone always gets caught so what’s the point, a rural health clinic is closing due to budget cuts, there is a new mayor in a neighboring town, an Irish band will play on St. Patrick’s Day in a local food market, and downtown retailers will hold a workshop on branding and marketing in tough times.
To be fair, I also let myself take a quick early morning look at the headlines at Yahoo news just in case something earth shattering takes place. The really hard part is to turn off NPR, which is so much a part of my daily routine that it feels awkward not to hear the news in the morning and early evening. Right now my wife is in the next room getting ready for the concert we will attend. I can hear “All Things Considered” in the background and wonder if I might edge a little closer to make out some of the words. What about “As It Happens?” Does Canadian news count?
What exactly any of this has to do with a spiritual direction or discipline remains to be seen. I’m working on that.
I wouldn\’t want to give anyone the wrong idea about our little city. We may be out in the country but we also have three colleges, a terrific symphony (the oldest west of the Mississippi), a couple of legitimate theaters and an active art community. Tonight we attended the symphony, and here\’s the big difference for us. We left the symphony hall at 9:35, got into our car at 9:39 and were home by 9:45. Try that in NYC!
There\’s plenty of hot news in your town but I don\’t feel it\’s my place to inform you of it as I don\’t want to break your solemn resolve to give up major news stories…..oh, well.
Well, I could listen to gossip.CP