Don’t turn off the news

Have you ever read V for Vendetta? I don’t mean, have you seen the movie. The movie was awful. Have you read the graphic novel?

You should. And if you can, you should get ahold of the collection that has a forward by the author. Because there’s a story there that once upon a time changed how I see the world. I’ll paraphrase it for you.

Alan Moore was sitting in a pub having a meal and some drinks. The news was on, and he was sort of watching it peripherally. The owner of the pub was there, doing pub owner things. Eventually, the owner’s wife came in for the dinner rush. She turned changed the news station over to some game show or another. She explained that the news was too depressing. He goes on to say that V for Vendetta is dedicated to the people who don’t turn off the news.

I get that, you know. There are days that it’s hard to watch the news. There is so much horror in the world, so much pain. Tragedies and human cruelty. Monsters and liars, and terrible things that are just out of our control.

I read the news online, I don’t watch it. And there are days that it’s just sickening. I don’t want to know what’s happening sometimes because it makes me feel so damn helpless! Sometimes I feel like I just can’t ever do enough.

But I can do some. I can donate to worthy causes, not just my money but my time. I can use this platform to inform people about things we all need to know about. I can share things on social media.

And I can vote. I can make damn sure that I vote.

At very least, I can make sure that I know what’s going on. I can look into situations, check multiple sources. I can educate myself. And so can you.

Look, I know that it’s hard. But it’s not going to get easier, it’s not going to get better until we are all educated enough to do something about it. We should take breaks, we have to. We should understand that we can’t do something about everything. But we should do what is in our power to do.

Don’t turn off the news. Don’t shut out what’s happening, please. Do whatever you can.