And The Weather Continues to Chill...

Winter is here. Thank the Lord my wife crochets (although, to be honest, she's been on bedrest for at least a week, and our baby is coming Wednesday, so therefore she has lots of time) so she made me a balaclava for the chilly winter commutes I'll be on.

Crunched cash sucks. With three kids, plus a birthday (literally) in a few days, there has been scarce cash. I'm stuck riding my wife's old Roadmaster bike while my bike, my trusty Miyata 1000, is crank-up in the garage awaiting new tubes and rubber. Damn the fact that reality sucks when the cool, dry air and the sun shining makes me want to hit an all-day ride along Government Canyon Nature Preserve.

Oh, well. Nothing like reality to ruin a good fantasy.

Speaking of fantasies, I had a thought after reading an article concerning just how externalized we all are. Externalized? What does that mean, externalized?

It dawned on me this morning when I turned on the news in my cozy house to see how cold it was outside. Now, granted, I live in South Texas. It's never that could. The number of days it freezes here can be counted on one hand, the nights two. It's just not that cold. Honestly. I should know how cold it is, I let my dogs out every morning to take care of their stuff in the backyard, so I can feel how cold it is outside. Why do I need to stick a number on it? It's cold. Period. Hoodie and jeans, or maybe a long-sleeved shirt underneath it. Flip-flops if it's dry, shoes if it's wet. This is not a problem, right?

So why oh why must I see the news to tell me its cold?

And what else am I relying on the mainstream media to tell me that I can figure out for myself? Between the fluff on Fox News (thanks to a commenter - I told you I would give it a fair shake - and yes, they do spin, between fluff pieces) and the dismal crap of To Catch A Predator and the latest True Hollywood Story on Janice Dickinson (the hottest 50-year-old on TV, IMHO) and the relentless doom-and-gloom of CNN... I was ready to go back to bed, pull the covers over my head and say, "Screw it all! I'll just hide here and pretend the world is not going to hell."

And then I reflected on Henry Makow's article on Surviving the New World Order. Now, let me hit you with a caveat - I don't agree with all of his philosophies. His position on women and love and equality between the genders strikes me as wrong on a basic level, but he also has an interesting perspective on the universe at large.

Makow said that "You try to squeeze your sustenance from the world. But much of what you imbibe is poisonous: depravity, corruption, duplicity and tragedy." I thought on that for a while. Virginia Tech, a NY couple accused of slavery, Ohio men stabbed in the heart, a juvenile serial killer interview... the list of negativity goes on and on. Bush lectures on the the bounty of America's economy as the Dow Jones breaks the best of the traders like gamblers crapping out on the table.

Yet we watch, as if anything we do is going to negate or neutralize any of these news headlines.
This is externalization - the need of seeking mental or spiritual sustenance from outside the self. Does this mean that I'm advocating the need to simply gaze at our collective navel and murmur "aum?" No, it means that instead of being hung on every negative thing that is reported on the news, we should seek out the things that nourish us mentally and spiritually.

Today, instead of musing on the negativity in the mainstream news, I ate Chinese food with my daughter. We talked about work and school and everything in between. We had more healthy relationship time there than if we were at home, with what passes for entertainment blaring all evening.

I'll listen to the news tonight - but it won't get me down. I don't need to wring every little bit of data out of the news - it's mostly depressing anyway. I don't need to know who hooked up with whom, or who is divorcing whom. I will kiss my wife and contemplate the new life that will be here Wednesday.

Here is joy. Here is my life, not on the tube.

Mago