Taking a break from the news

The First Law is that you can be, do, and have whatever you imagine. The Second Law is that you attract what you fear.

~Neale Donald Walsch

For about a month now peddlers of panic and despair, sometimes known as TV newscasters, have been saturating the airwaves with visions of envelopes of anthrax, vials of smallpox, dirty nuclear weapons, Osama Bin Laden, terrorist cells in the U.S., the Taliban. In the rush to sell a few cars (and, perhaps, a lot of Prozac), the national media is helping to foster a kind of uneasiness, a sense of foreboding, and a loss of self-confidence that those who wish us ill never dreamed of creating themselves.

And some of our national leaders are adding fuel to the fire. One day I’m told that my life has changed forever, the next that I should get back to normal. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson says that the government is in control of any possible bio-terrorism in the U.S. Later, when a few more envelopes of anthrax show up in the mail, it becomes obvious that he’s either in denial or obfuscating. President Bush exhorts me to get on a plane, go to the mall, and buy more stuff. But Vice President Cheney is sequestered in some undisclosed location, and the FBI and CIA warn of imminent major terrorist attacks. (more…)

Saturday, October 27th, 2001