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Your Letters
Reading
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We have given up the news in our family.
Most people feel some sort of responsibility to know what is going on “out there” and accuse us of being irresponsible because we are not interested in the daily “news”. But unless you actually do something, (I don’t include donating money which is easy with or without the news), to alleviate the world's problems, watching the news is just wallowing in other peoples misery. Not only that, a great deal of the news nowadays is propaganda. If you give up the news there will always be other people who will let you know if something really important is happening that may affect you. And if the bomb is dropped and we don’t know about it then lucky us! In 8 years of not focusing on how bad everything is, we have found the energy to enjoy life rather than be overwhelmed by things. We do though enjoy reading Positive News which tells us about all the good things that are happening.
Oh horror!
I am doing a massive lifelong experiment to be the happiest person I can be and to raise the happiest family I can raise. I think that I am gaining important knowledge. Although the world population is exploding to dangerous levels, happy people are very rare, maybe as rare as tigers, and I am doing my best to nurture the species.
It is very hard to live in the developed world without taking part in generalised exploitation. Even whilst choosing to live as cheaply as possible (see Money Matters) I am aware that some of my purchases contribute to suffering. On the other side of the equation, I am also trying to live minimally and buy second hand things where possible.
I do the best I can without dwelling on other peoples misery as it only makes me feel sad, which achieves nothing. I believe that in working to create a happy family I am undertaking important work.
Maybe some people would see my attitude as being very selfish and perhaps it is. But I know an awful lot of well informed people who seem to wash in other peoples misery. Generally their lives are if anything more exploitive than mine (since they consume more) and an enormous amount more miserable.
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"I don't think of all the misery, but of all the beauty that still remains." Anne Frank
"Never bear more than one kind of trouble at a time. Some people bear three - all they have had, all they have now and all they expect to have!" Edward Everett Hale
"Do not take life too seriously, you will never get out of it alive." Elbert Hubbard
"People who drink to drown their sorrows should be told that sorrow knows how to swim." Anne Landen
"Don't meet trouble halfway. It is quite capable of making the entire journey!" Bob Edwards
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