Spinning on Ash Wednesday
I grew up in rural Oklahoma without electricity, attended a regional country school, and had limited access to a radio, and no access to newspapers or magazines (I do not recall any magazines in our school library but perhaps that is inaccurate). I did have access to books - even if not current - an old set of encyclopedias which belonged to Grandma Fannie and the news reels which one saw on the relatively rare visits to the movie theatre. The most accessible news arrived via way of relatives and neighbors who l recall having very passionate reports or interpretations of what was happening. I do not recall the word spin ever being used in regards to news reports but, as I think back even on what was reported, how it was reported and what was not reported I am acutely aware that spinning the news reports to reinforce an opinion or an action is something us humans have been doing for as long as we been living together. The only change is that many of us humans have access to various mediums to offer our spin on our individual histories, our family histories and our history as communities, cities, states, regions, countries and alliances of countries. In fact, there are so many versions of each event that one’s head can be spinning by the time one has been up for an hour or less. By 7:00 a.m. this morning I had been up for two hours and had already had received several versions of the same events. The version from one “news” source to the next was very different. There are now organizations which purport to do fact checking, but even those reports might have a conscious or unconscious bias. One topic which left my head spinning this morning was immigration. I was overwhelmed with phrases/assertions such as illegal immigration; criminals trying to come into the country; families with children fleeing violence and poverty; unaccompanied teenagers being sent by parents who fear for the safety of their children; irresponsible parents attempting to make someone else responsible for their children; drug runners; students and workers staying past the expiration date of their visa; sex workers; workers and others paying into social security, Medicare and the local, state federal tax systems who reap no benefits; and those who managed to enter and navigate the complicated and long system for becoming citizens.
If I google for more information I have to sort through thousands of potential sources of information. If I narrow the search I have to be aware of how my choice of words to narrow the search is going to affect the nature of the reports I can now review.
I want to be a well-informed, participating member of the community, the state and the nation who considers the needs of all the citizens or at least as many as possible. I am going to have to make educated guesses while continuing to practice active listening to as wide a variety of sources as possible. I am also going to have to identify sources who may have personal experiences of having lived the issue I am attempting to investigate. Most of all I am going to have to identify my own prejudices and vested interests.
Perhaps on this day which is celebrated in the Christian Church as Ash Wednesday: the beginning of Lent, the beginning of a period of fasting for some; a time of repentance; a day on which Christian are reminded from dust to dust, is a good day to accept the limitations and possibilities of our humanness to find those kernels which will allow us as a community to use compassion and humility along with a dash of honesty and the courage of faith to guide us in formulating opinions and policies.
Written March 6, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
Coachpickett.org
I grew up in rural Oklahoma without electricity, attended a regional country school, and had limited access to a radio, and no access to newspapers or magazines (I do not recall any magazines in our school library but perhaps that is inaccurate). I did have access to books - even if not current - an old set of encyclopedias which belonged to Grandma Fannie and the news reels which one saw on the relatively rare visits to the movie theatre. The most accessible news arrived via way of relatives and neighbors who l recall having very passionate reports or interpretations of what was happening. I do not recall the word spin ever being used in regards to news reports but, as I think back even on what was reported, how it was reported and what was not reported I am acutely aware that spinning the news reports to reinforce an opinion or an action is something us humans have been doing for as long as we been living together. The only change is that many of us humans have access to various mediums to offer our spin on our individual histories, our family histories and our history as communities, cities, states, regions, countries and alliances of countries. In fact, there are so many versions of each event that one’s head can be spinning by the time one has been up for an hour or less. By 7:00 a.m. this morning I had been up for two hours and had already had received several versions of the same events. The version from one “news” source to the next was very different. There are now organizations which purport to do fact checking, but even those reports might have a conscious or unconscious bias. One topic which left my head spinning this morning was immigration. I was overwhelmed with phrases/assertions such as illegal immigration; criminals trying to come into the country; families with children fleeing violence and poverty; unaccompanied teenagers being sent by parents who fear for the safety of their children; irresponsible parents attempting to make someone else responsible for their children; drug runners; students and workers staying past the expiration date of their visa; sex workers; workers and others paying into social security, Medicare and the local, state federal tax systems who reap no benefits; and those who managed to enter and navigate the complicated and long system for becoming citizens.
If I google for more information I have to sort through thousands of potential sources of information. If I narrow the search I have to be aware of how my choice of words to narrow the search is going to affect the nature of the reports I can now review.
I want to be a well-informed, participating member of the community, the state and the nation who considers the needs of all the citizens or at least as many as possible. I am going to have to make educated guesses while continuing to practice active listening to as wide a variety of sources as possible. I am also going to have to identify sources who may have personal experiences of having lived the issue I am attempting to investigate. Most of all I am going to have to identify my own prejudices and vested interests.
Perhaps on this day which is celebrated in the Christian Church as Ash Wednesday: the beginning of Lent, the beginning of a period of fasting for some; a time of repentance; a day on which Christian are reminded from dust to dust, is a good day to accept the limitations and possibilities of our humanness to find those kernels which will allow us as a community to use compassion and humility along with a dash of honesty and the courage of faith to guide us in formulating opinions and policies.
Written March 6, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
Coachpickett.org
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