I am considering the possibility maybe we all get entirely too much information in a day for our own good. Perhaps the most decisive battle ever fought by the United States against the British was the Battle of New Orleans, that actually was fought a number of days after the war of 1812 was over. It took that long for news to reach that far south. Two cell phones(one on either end) could have saved alot of lives that day. I think back to the days I started farming in the late 1980s. Got the markets at noon on the radio. The news at either 6pm or 10pm on the one TV station we got on the antenna. No cell phone, no internet. We weren't bombarded with news 24 hours a day from all directions. Someone in the community could die and me not know it for days, now thanks to a half dozen cell calls a day, I generally know what everyone in the community is doing, not only do I hear instantly of a person getting injured or worse, I know almost immediately if someone gets a new tractor.
It seems especially the last several days have been a steady barrage of bad news. 20000 layoffs at CAT, 10000 at Boeing, 7000 at Home Depot, tonight 4000 at Cessna(most in Wichita Kansas), to add to the 5000 already given walking papers. Our state of Kansas contemplating a $1 billion shortfall next year, simply unheard of. The city of Wichita predicts it will be $7 million short,even our small local school district figuring it may come up $88000 in the red. Reading your BBC website yesterday they predicted 51 million world wide would lose their jobs eventually, can that be correct? The beef market, which is my bread and butter, sinks lower each day, certainly tied to the job losses. With three 24 hour news channels on our TV, we learn nearly minute by minute of the hurling of billions of dollars our nation does not have at a problem I don't think very many people really understand. Our Congress reminds me of an old fashioned bucket brigade at a fire. They are going to keep tossing money on the fire until it finally burns down.
When the cell phone first came out I thought they were ridiculous. Today I wouldn't be without mine, but it too has its downfalls. One of my friends called me this morning to ask how my head was, as our conversation was about over, I remarked "have a good day". His reply was, "how can I possibly do that knowing our nation is being destroyed as everyone watches?!?!?!". Tonight, as I am absolutely depressed with what we have seen on our late news, I am thinking of going on a news boycott for a week, and see if I feel better about life.
The age we live in is both wonderful and not so wonderful at the same time. The ability to make friends from all over the world and share ideas and opinions at the punch of a button is something that has made my life infinitely better. Knowledge is a good thing, but maybe like beer and food it needs to be taken in moderation.