media

i turned off my tv two years ago and haven't looked back.
I turned off the radio and closed all the newspapers too.
the noise they emit only hurts me
and i don't want to tolerate it.

in truth, they themselves broadcast pain.
the pain of the world.
and as humans, we respond to pain with anger.
and in our anger we look for someone to blame.

the anger in the world hurts me
because the blame in the world is undeserved
because the blame propagates the pain.

i cannot find a band-aid big enough to kiss the world's hurts.
so I turned off the news and all its sources
to protect myself from the pain of the world -
from the sounds of the world crying
from the screams of people who don't know a healthier way to respond
from the countless blames and pointing fingers at "someone else"
so we can direct our anger.
even though it doesn't address our pain
or help us heal.