Fatigued

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I would be really happy if I never again had to hear this phrase:

We'd like to thank the first responders who risked their lives to save the lives of others.

I can live without those words.

I'd also love to not hear about breaking news and this phrase:

The death toll now stands at_____

I don't wanna' know anything about death tolls. I also don't want to hear any athlete interviewed abut it.

"It puts what we do into perspective. We play a game. Those first-responders are the real heroes."

If that's the case maybe we should pay them like the heroes.

The one baseball pitcher I heard interviewed about the Boston bombing asked this question:

"What was the final tally? ow many dead?"

As if he needed to hear a score.

Tired of that.

I'm really just tired of all the tragedy. I'm sure that there are many out there feeling the same way.

Newtown. Boston. West Texas.

And a lot of it is because I stay on top of things most of the time. I read a lot, listen to a ton of talk radio, watch the nightly news, listen to the lying bastard polticians, Tweet, Facebook and pay attention.

My beautiful wife, on the other hand, pays it little mind.

She hears the initial big story, and then she sort of shuts it all down. She doesn't want to hear from the mother or father who has lost a child. She doesn't want to know of the monster who did the deed. All of the bad incidents meld one into the other. She doesn't get quite as emotionally involved.

And that's most likely the best way to play it.

Because the news isn't getting any easier to take, is it?

And the presentation of the news is even more disconcerting.

Every news organization is trying to report it faster.

Every podcast and tweet and blogger is trying to make it more sad than the next guy.

Invariably we will be left with other phrases that drive me crazy:

We are praying.

Our prayers are with them.

Let's pray together.

It's not that I'm against prayer. I often shift in that direction but if we are praying so much how come there seems to be a total lack of respect? Why is there so much evil?

I guess that I'm just fatigued.

My beautiful wife watches Gossip Girl, Dance Moms, Friday Night Lights...this and that...one show after another. An easy way to escape the tragedy of the news.

She might be on to something there.

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