Kat, I do not mean that anyone should hide their heads in the sand. But I do mean that we need to be mindfull about what we take in, and about how we take it in. And then we can be mindfull about what to DO with it.

The marketing hope is that we all tiune in and stayed glued while commecials ad nauseum are fed to our jaw-dropped maws.... the commercial xsuccess of these outletrs (and, increasingly, online outlets) depdnds upon cultivating our paralysis. Our fascinated paralysis.

And I am STILL processing and healing from the 911 coverage I inhaled uncritically as it occurred. I will not allow my heart to be used that way again.

And this does allow me to focus more lovingly, flexibly, and attentively to the horrors going on around me.

It also provides a perspective that informs policy-setting groups in which I now play a part. To do that one has to be able to choose a certain perspective and detachment, and to balance that with time and resources to deal with feelings and reflection.... in these groups I may be opining about people-affecting policy-- one moment-- and counseling the groups' members on their own unhealed 911-type stuff-- the next. The flexibility to shift between these modes depends upon my remaining unhooked by their horror long enough to choose a view from which to offer a healing word or touch. See?

~S~