The Unexceptable

I find it troubling when I watch the news and am filled with images of death and despair.  Parents killing their children, and children killing their parents.  I am led in particular to a very recent tragedy, Camden Pierce Hughes.  I know that there has to be something psychologically wrong with a person for them to commit such a crime.  I mean there would have to be right?  No one in their right mind would take the life of their child if they were sane. Right?  I just can't imagine what goes through the head of people who do this.  If you take a moment to just google something like "mother kills child" or "father kills kid" or even "child kills...." you will be amazed at the amount of hits you will receive.  I look into the eyes of my children every night, and the love I have for them over flows, I could never imagine what thoughts enter the brains of people who take the lives of their children. In fact, the very thought of it makes me angry, and enrages me.  How could you take the life of someone you worked so hard to bring into the world?  A gift from above, and angel, an innocent being who knows nothing but the love and trust of its parents, how could you take that life away?

Tab....WHAT???

Ok, so I am all for that fiction book that is full of all the things we know dont actually happen, or could happen but didnt.  However.......TABLOIDS???  I never understood how people are constantly drawn to magazines like "The National Enquirer" "People", and "Star".  I mean sure they are appealing at first glance, but the people reading them have got to know that most of what is in those magazines isn't true...RIGHT.....Wrong... I believe the media does such a great job of luring us with their images and "loud" captions that we as humans are sometimes left saying "Oh my goodness, did "so and so" really do "such and such?"  We live in a day and age where it takes everything we have to raise our children right, teach them not to believe rumors, and hear say and to walk away from troubling situations with their heads high.  Yet, as they are sitting in the carriages while we grocery shop, the last image they have is mommy or daddy picking up "Life & Style" to catch the latest on what scandal, weight loss/gain or plastic surgery has occured recently.  Yes maybe they are too young at one point to really understand what it is that is being read but, the older they get the smarter they become.  I truly believe that the media has wonderul attributes, and that without them we would know so little about what is going on around the world.  However, do I feel as though creating tabloids is the best work they have ever done............not so much.

So what comes next?

At first glance you cannot help but notice the obvious black and white picture taken by the cameras of old.  You remember, those cameras that were sometimes bigger than you were and took everything in you to hold it up and take a picture at the same time.  You then notice the older film style.  The way the lines dance along the screen.  Then, you are drawn to the ever so beautiful Marilyn Monroe.  Her beauty speaks all on its own.  She is elegant and graceful, but a bit not subtle.  Once you move past the lovely lady, you notice that the person speaking is not speaking English.  However, the beauty of it is, he does not have to.  As the images move from the image of the woman herself, you then see her thoughts, and what she can relate too.  She too dreamed of more, wanted more, believed more and knew she was more than just a shop girl....  The faces that were portrayed in the Oracion nearly brought me to tears.  The question I have is, if that is how the world was then, and there are still issues now.......I know we have come a long way, but how much further do we have to go?

Media and the "Good" VS "BAD"

How often are we watching the news on television and seeing something positive?  Yes, it is important for people to hear about all of the tragedy and negativity in the world, however am I the only one out there that doesnt really want to turn on the news because I know nothing good or happy is going to be displayed.  Don't get me wrong, I know that there is plenty of hurt, devastation, hunger, murder, I could go on for days in the world, but I guess Id like to see a little more of what good happens in the world as well.  Ill take a little more miracle babies being born, and people surviving dangerous crashes or awful diseases.  Ill take more students getting into and graduating from college, more people saving instead of foreclosing on their homes.  Call me crazy, but I go through life with a smile because I truly believe that some where, there is someone that needs to see it......For in my life, I was always taught to appreciate the good things, for some where there is someone that has it much worse than you do.............

What Women Want......

My husband and I always have this reoccuring discussion about how the media portrays relationships on televison.  In particular, his station of choice is none other than the Lifetime Network.  He believes that the network in particular creates a facade that men are supposed to live up to.  He also thinks the women are crazy and most of the actors, just plain can not act.  I completely understand where he is coming from but, do believe that people depicted in the movies on Lifetime do exist to an extent. 

We always laugh and joke because there is always some sappy love story, or affair gone bad, or woman crying over the love that got away.  The women on these shows are usually a bit dramatic and the men are generally over emotional and affectionate.  Yet, for some reason, the movies draw people in.  I often wonder myself why I enjoy watching them but, thats just it, in all actuallity I do like them!  Now to my husband, forcing him to watch lifetime is like making him watch paint dry, or asking him to commit media suicide.  He actually makes comments like "oh no, not again", or "Zzzzzzzz" (this is him snoring). 

The drama that is displayed in these movies just sucks me right in.  I know most of the story lines are based on fiction, with the exception of the few that are based on true stories, but yet I am still there front and center ever Thursday night to catch the newly released drama.  I am also the first to sit down after putting the babies to bed to catch the "Pick Your Flick" Friday movies.  What is it that draws us to television stations like this, even when we know going into it that it is possibly the furthest thing from reality?  Could it be our inquisitive nature?  Our want for the impossible to become reality?  Our need to satisfy the urge for whatever may be lacking in our current situations?  What is it that makes us sit in front of a televison faithfully, once a week, always on the same day, for an hour, maybe two, maybe more, and take in the "fake" stuff?