Good morning, friends! I hope you are waking up to a perfect cup of coffee and birds chirping a morning greeting to you.
I'm taking my cup of coffee in bed, under the covers, curled up with my cat, Starla. I like to wake up slowly these days, and coffee in bed just feels so decadent.
Recovery is s-l-o-w, but I'm feeling better. It's very obvious when I overdo it with shortness of breath and dizziness, so I'm not pushing too far because I literally cannot. I'm getting back into being able to do my basic tasks, such as dishes and laundry. I'm forced by my body to be patient right now.
Maybe it's helping me do better about being in the moment, and there's a lot to be said for that. The pulmonologist told me to expect a full week of recovery for each day I was in the hospital, so this means I have four more weeks of extremely slow living.
One place I'm not spending much time these days is online consuming the news. I have always been a self-proclaimed "current events junkie," dating back to my second year of college. I loved the news, the rapid flow of information, the scandals, and putting together the puzzle pieces of seemingly unrelated events.
But now, I find it to be very different.
Has anyone else noticed how brutal the news is now? I have seen too many people die online, the clips of their demises played over and over and over. The fear of that poor Ukrainian girl in Charlotte haunts me. Charlie Kirk's last minutes break my heart because I know one day his children will see that footage online. People are livestreaming the torture of other humans and animals, and the news is sharing screenshots. Others are harming precious infants and children.
I cannot take all that on board. Even the headlines about some of these things are too much for me to handle, and I find myself wanting to avoid the news more and more every single day. I skim the headlines to see if there is anything prepper-related that I need to know, and then I close out of it.
But I'm an adult. I can make that choice because I have the wisdom and life experience to know that this is unhealthy to consume.
What about our young people? When they're seeing multiple deaths and beatings per day online, how does this affect them? I would imagine it results in one of two things: horror and trauma for the gentler souls, and desensitization for the rest.
I remember when people talked about how the fake deaths in video games was desensitizing kids - some even thought it was the root cause of teen violence.
What if they're seeing death for real? And often?
What would death mean to them then?
In the case of Mr. Kirk, empathy for the victim and his family was viciously attacked online, so what does this teach a young person? That it's okay if the person holds different opinions? That it's fine for people to celebrate it? That it can be viewed online over and over again?
I'm truly sickened by it all. It's one thing to consume something that you know is fiction and quite another to see it in real life spread all over the internet for callous commentary.
I've chosen to distance myself from that. I don't want to become immune to death, abuse, and pain. I don't want those images in my head. It's enough that I know such things have occurred without the visuals of it.
I cannot even imagine what comes next with an entire generation mired in these visions until they're no longer shocking, confused about their sexuality, and told that they can be whatever gender they want to be just by saying it is so. They're told that they are the victims in a million different tales, instead of being brought up to be the heroes in their own life stories. This is prolonged, repeated trauma, and will affect these kids for the rest of their lives.
Okay, that went dark in a hurry, way darker than I had intended. Suffice it to say, taking a step back from this visual horror might be good for all of us, and protecting our children from it is essential.
Subject change...
Amazon Prime Big Deals is coming on October 7th and 8th, and I'll be up early, looking for the best buys for preppers. In these days of high prices, finding gear on sale could mean a big boost for your stockpile and bug-out bag. My goodness, I went to Target the other day to pick up a prescription, and I was absolutely stunned by how much things have gone up! $40 for a plain hoodie from a non-fancy store? $64 for two coordinating pajama pieces? What on earth!
Here's hoping the sales from Amazon are fantastic and please remember that using my links for your shopping (even if you're buying other things) benefits The OP financially.
In case you missed it, there's a new chapter of Haven Hill up on the website. You can find it here: https://www.theorganicprepper.com/haven-hill-20/
I hope that you have a lovely day today, and a happy week ahead.
Stay safe.
Be happy.
Love,
Daisy
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