Guilt-Free: The World Around Us

I often feel so preoccupied with my little life that I rarely get a glimpse of the world spinning around me. I know there are wars and conflicts, political turmoil, scientific discoveries, view-changing art, environmental concerns...the list goes on and on. Even closer to home there are election issues, community events, social crises, economical woes. I hear tidbits on the television newsflashes or see headlines in the newspaper boxes, but I admit I'm ignorant as to the details behind the issues.

Sometimes it seems easier to just go on living in my little world, seeing to the day-to-day needs of my family (or job). Other people are dealing with the problems, right?

But then I think that I really should be a little more aware. Ghandi said to "Be the change you want to see", so how can I hope for a more peaceful world, a more stable country, a more understanding community, if I just hope someone else will deal with it?

In an effort to be a little more educated about what's going on around me, I've tuned into the CBC radio 99.1. We leave our radio in the bathroom and in the kitchen tuned to this station, so that for 20 or 30 minutes a day we hear some of the world and local news headlines. This is at least a start. But in between the news reports that occur every half hour, there are interviews, documentaries, investigations, and analysis of the issues effecting us all. Sometimes they are about events I'm well aware of (it's hard to miss the federal politics lately), but sometimes I am amazed about what I hear (like about an inmate pregnancy program in prisons). Often I get to hear two sides to the story (Israeli and Palestinian interviews in Gaza).

It may only be a smattering of information, but it's more than I used to have. And listening for 20 minutes means you hear an entire subject presented. So I may just be able to comment at the next gathering I'm at, and sound a little more "tuned in" to the world around me!

Bonus: CBC also dots their programming with Canadian music and culture, so I get caught up culturally also!