I'm not a big fan of TV news. I find most of it to be self promotion or sensationalism for ratings. I know their is much violence out there. I know bad things happen to good people. I just don't need to see it splashed in high def. On large screen TV. How one program can go from finding out make-up secrets of American Idol contestants to a father burns his children alive in his SUV is something I will never be able to grasp or want to witness. I'm not ignorant of current events. I listen to a news radio station in the morning and read the newspaper every day. They tend to just report the news without trying to make it seem like the latest must see movie that can't be missed. I know about the depressed father and his SUV. I don't know what the charred remains of the vehicle and it's contents look like. There is one good news program. It only comes on once a week, Sunday mornings. In fact it's called Sunday Morning News, or something close to that. Look for it next weekend at 7am on CBS. The fact that this type of news program only comes on once a week should be a hint at the type of news we the mass consumer of media wants. And according to mass media there is much to be afraid of. Yes be afraid, be very afraid. Coming soon to a chicken near you the FLU! How about killer ice bergs floating free and soon to smash into our coastal city's (damn global warming). Iran recruiting new suicide bombers with the promise to SEE THE WORLD. Just check the box off on where you would like to go with your little package. Well I don't eat chicken (ask my wife). I don't live on the coast (can't afford it). And I haven't been to the mid-west let alone to the middle east. If I let all of this get to me I would be curled up into a fetal position in some dark corner somewhere jumping to every sound the world made. No thank you. I'll do the best I can at living and try to squeeze another twenty or thirty years out of life. Hope I don't look too icky at an advance age. Hope I don't drool or drive 25mph on the freeway, in the fast lane. Hope I'll still be able to see the sunrise, still be able to hear the wind. There is something to be said about dying young. James Dean bumped into a telephone pole and now he will always look cool in all his photographs. Marilyn Monroe pissed off the Kennedy's and now doesn't have to worry about sneaking into a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon to give the impression of youth. She will always be young and beautiful to us. Of course on the other hand they are dead. And that will never change. Bummer. Guess you'll just have to get used to my skin sagging a little more each and every year (better make that month). Meanwhile let's try to remember that this day represents renewal. Bright warm days. Scented air of new blossoms. I know bad things are here, I know bad things are coming. But so is good. So is joy and happiness. So let's do keep the bad in mind, but maybe we could keep it a smaller part of out brain, somewhere way in the back. Then perhaps we will have more room for that and those we love and want to spend more time with.