Sorry Media, I Am Done with You

Val Curtis

The news has been overwhelming and I have been taking it all in these past two years with a heavy heart. I find myself being sucked into the content, looking for answers. My children are in the background playing. I can hear their giggles, bickering, and overall silliness. They ask me questions and I say, “Just hold on a minute, mama is reading something.”

I have decided that I am not going to let the media feed my mood anymore, distract me from my family and friends and catch me with their emotion-laden titles merely for the sake of getting a click. Instead, I am going to talk to people – in real life. No more wincing from the comments of trolls and crying at the hatred spewed so effortlessly by “people” who don’t hesitate to write with their Facebook accounts, IDing themselves as the authors of vile words that dig down deep without regret or thought.

No more. I am not giving you space, trolls.

Reach inside. Be the change you want to see. This keeps echoing in my mind. It is time to teach our children what matters to us and WHY it matters. We all have different paths for parenting and that is OK. There is no one way, but there is OUR way. It takes effort and the outcome is worth the time and commitment it takes.

Step outside. Be the change you want to see. Jump off of social media and become social. Invite friends over and have them invite friends. Expand your circle within your own community. Talk. Reach out. LISTEN.

You cannot take on all of the world’s problems, however, we can listen to one another. Be the change you want to see. We can share our stories, our concerns, our ideas to make a change with the people who are sitting around us. Find commonality among the people around you and THIS will trickle out. Share THIS.

Reach out to a friend. Be the change you want to see. We are all in need of empathy and compassion. Before you react to things people say, stop and think to yourself, “How can I show empathy?
How can I show this person compassion?” No more dehumanizing commentary. Less them, more us. Make a phone call, ring a doorbell, go sit in a park and strike up a conversation.

I might find the energy to jump back into the crazy, but for now, I need to be with my neighbors, my village, my family. I am going to be the change I want to see. Will you join me?


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Val is the Editor-in-chief of BonBon Break. A former middle school science/math/tech teacher, she put her career on hold to be at home with her son and daughter on an island in the Pacific Northwest. When Val breaks away from her keyboard, she enjoys gardening, cooking, hiking, camping, photography, tidepooling, sailing and potlucks. She gets a kick out of combing the web for recipes and making them gluten free so she can share meals with her husband, family and friends. She is a tech-gadget geek who is poked fun at, but it doesn’t bother her a bit. Combining her love of photography, tech and graphics to create new, fun content for BonBon Break quenches her “thirst” for integrated technology.