Are The Troubles Of The World Weighing You Down?

Tired of worrying about things? I can’t blame you, because I am tired of all the bad news also. It is almost impossible to see a day go by without hearing, seeing or reading something which makes us think we are getting closer to some disaster. There is nothing like opening up a newspaper or going to a news site and seeing a huge headline about the ice thinning at the North Pole and how the people who live near the sea shore are going to be flooded, because the ocean is going to rise and take away everything they have. There are some people who really take this kind of thing to heart and just reading something like that has a terrible effect on their quality of life.

I saw a big headline which read that California is going to sink into the sea due to volcanic activity. I also saw another one which stated California is sinking very fast and this is due to the fact the aquifers are emptying and there is nothing to hold up the land over them. This goes right along with the news that states there will be no water for Californians soon. California on my last check had a population of 38.8 million people in 2014. That is more than a lot of countries. There is no way they can live without water. Can you imagine how Californians feel when they read headlines like this? It has to be affecting them and their personas. It is sort of like having the Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads. I would have to think it must be having an effect on the mental health of some of the citizens of that state.

How about all those warnings we have been getting about our food being contaminated. In the last twelve months I must have heard at least three different times that we shouldn’t eat hamburger. What I find amazing about these warnings is the fact hamburger which is contaminated has been allowed to reach the public. So many foodstuffs have been announced as contaminated you have to wonder if there really is anything safe to eat. One company recalled its chicken products and steak products, because they reached us without ever being inspected. Inspections don’t seem to be doing much good anyway. Another company recalled its pork products due to possible Salmonella contamination. Many foods get into the food stream that contain allergens which are not labeled and we see huge headlines about them with an occasional photo of some poor kid with his or her face bloated due to a peanut allergy.

Oh well you think, I am tired of all this and think I will go out for a drive, then you remember the headlines telling you your car is unsafe. You have a new car with all the electronic gadgets and you have been reading articles about how hackers can take over your car while you are driving. They can access your brakes, steering, gas pedal, transmission and much more. You are beginning to feel paranoid about going for that drive, because now you feel a moving car may not be one of the safest places to be. Who can blame you, videos of people taking over cars have been appearing on YouTube and other sites.

You decide to remain home. You turn on your new smart television and are joking around with your wife and maybe saying things you wouldn’t want others to hear and then your remember the headlines you read a couple of months ago alerting you to the fact some of the smart televisions are recording what you are saying and may be passing it along. You remind your wife of the fact and you quickly jump up and turn off the TV. It is beginning to feel you are very unsafe. Maybe you could use your laptop but then you remember you have been alerted to the fact hackers can turn on your camera and probably your microphone without you knowing it. It is even worse than your smart TV spying on you.

Now you are sitting in a chair in the living room of your house and it begins to rain. Lightning is in the air and you remember the warnings about talking on a wired phone or watching television during a lightning storm or even standing too near a window. It seems everyone you talked to has a story about someone being killed by lightning while in their own home.

You really have to wonder why there is so much bad news. Is it because there is a lack of good news? You pick up the newspaper and the headline proclaims North Korea is going to declare war on South Korea and their leader is crazy and might use nuclear weapons. You also read Iran is making an accord with the United States not to develop nukes for the next ten years, but will probably cheat and they are saying they want to destroy us. You think to yourself, well at least a nuclear attack will kill us quickly. You turn the page again in the paper and the next thing you see is termites are destroying all the buildings in your area. Enough is enough!

Then it begins to dawn on you, the news thrives on these types of stories. They want to grab our attention and they are convinced they can do it using sensationalism. They think if the story is terrible enough it will attract our attention and we will read it and see all the commercials that come with it. Things are not really as bad as they seem. Sure the world has problems, but guess what, it always did, but somehow it has always muddled through them. Many of the problems in the world today will be solved by technology and there is probably no country that would use a nuke again, because they know what would happen to them. Our food contamination problems could be solved with just more inspectors. As for problems caused by nature, that is a little harder, but who knows what solutions might come along. Humans are very resourceful.