15 Minutes

For years I avoided the news. I didn't even give it 15 minutes a day. I was raising my kids and the news made me fearful. I wondered if they would have a future, if they would be safe on their way to and from school, or AT school, for that matter. After watching horrifying news stories, I worried that my neighbor might be a child molester and that my children's teenage friends were terrible drivers with poor judgment and hidden addictions. So I didn't watch.

I avoided and I worried and I tried to protect my children. We lived in good neighborhoods. I knew their friends and the parents of their friends. I made certain they called to tell me where they were. I went to parent conferences. I tried to keep the communication open, but in spite of all my efforts, I missed some things. I overlooked some things. I ignored some things. I am human, I didn't do it perfectly.

Now I watch the news every morning and every night. I read the paper from front to back. I even have news updates delivered to my email and news flashes that greet me in the morning on my Google Homepage, to say nothing of all the Tweets that come my way. It definitely takes more than 15 minutes a day now, but I am much more aware and informed today than in the past. And again in spite of all my efforts, I miss some things, I overlook some things, I ignore some things. I am still human and I am still not perfect.

Life is a flurry of news and information in the 21st century. It's no longer (and maybe never was) only 15 minutes a day. Today's world is whirling with nonstop progress and communication. We are on overload, even if we don't want to admit it. We sometimes know too much, even if we don't want to recognize it. We are force-fed news in every format possible and we rarely choose to turn it off. It's on the TV, the radio, the computer, the paper, the magazines - all of which are easy to obtain, entertaining, and relatively inexpensive.

Some news is better than other news. Let's face it - all news isn't really news - it's gossip or conjecture or opinion, but it's not always news. It's not always accurate or timely or real either. Look at the magazine racks where the majority of publications are sensational or repetitive (how many meal plans can you create for a 1000-calorie diet?). But even worse, listen to the graphic news stories of child abuse and violent crimes - the stories that make us triple lock our doors at night and never sleep with the windows open. An entire generation will not know the bliss of falling asleep with a warm breeze caressing your cheek as it flows in through the window.

If I had been exposed to the reality of the world as I know it today, through what I like to call "newsmania", I wonder if I would have allowed my children to leave my house - ever.

Kudos to responsible parents today for their courage, and prayers for the children who wander innocently into life's experiences. There is a big world with 15 minutes of fame waiting for each of them. Let's hope that fame comes through a positive action and not a tragedy. We all want our name in the headlines, but let's be careful which headline it ends up in. We have to make the best of our 15 minutes of fame because tomorrow's daily edition is about to go to print with an entirely new headline and yesterday's headlines (our headline) will be moved from the front page and buried in the scores on the sports page or moved into the archives of headline fame.

I wish our politicians cared which headline their name was in, but that isn't always the case. Fame is fame to them and they also want more than their allotted 15 minutes. Bad publicity is considered better than no publicity to a politician in the headlines. It's all about name recognition, sustainable public exposure and widespread identity.

News is news, and I read it and watch it, but I also know how to turn it off. If only some of our politicians knew how to do the same.