White Blood Cells

My senses have been on overload with the violent images put in front of me by the media.  Horrific images of the bombing at the Boston Marathon, an explosion of a Fertilizer plant in Texas took lives and leveled homes, and then an all out manhunt for bombing suspects in Boston.  Over the last week it was impossible to turn on the news or the radio without receiving minute by minute updates on these stories. 

I am not saying that it isn't important to  understand what is happening but a constant stream of violence and negativity being forced into my world for an entire week was almost too much. I had big plans this weekend beginning with a girls night out with my cousins. During our outing I received a message from my daughter, who is living in China, saying  that she was standing in the street unable to enter her building because of an earthquake that was strong enough to make international news. At that point, my tragedy meter was on overload. I just needed a weekend of solitude to recover so I rearranged my schedule.

Yesterday I began to look for Internet stories with a more positive theme and what I found confirmed that I am not the only one who has had enough of horrific images from the media.  One recurring quote  in articles that had a more positive flavor was the one from Mr. Rogers who said that when a catastrophe happens, "Look for the helpers." 

I began to surf the Internet and found many heartwarming stories that were not getting attention because they were buried beneath the violent ones.  There  is more good than bad in this world but the bad is what gets the media attention.  One article, written by comedian Patton Oswalt, compared good people to the white blood cells in our body,   "But the vast majority stands against that darkness and, like white blood cells attacking a virus, they dilute and weaken and eventually wash away the evildoers and, more importantly, the damage they wreak. This is beyond religion or creed or nation."

I guess this is just how life is, the white blood cells are there in great numbers just doing their work without trying to get attention.  As a result, the red blood cells just get all of the attention because that is all that is immediately visible.  It is up to us to look deeper if we want to see both sides of a situation.