Weltschmerz

Many years ago, when I was going through some of the darkest times of my life, I came up with a theory.  I was searching for an explanation for why I had to go through so much hell, particularly when so many others seemed to have it so easy.  My life has not been all bad, and, comparatively speaking, I’ve had it downright easy.  But nonetheless, pain, anxiety, and depression have been my frequent companions.

While things at times seemed overwhelming, I’ve always had a central belief that we never have more on our plates than we can handle (though I do admit that that belief is not absolute; I have known some who were faced with difficulty that they, sadly, could not overcome.  We may be strong, but that doesn’t mean that strength is limitless.).  I consider myself a strong person, but I have friends and family members that have gone through things that I’m not sure I could ever endure.  But these things all made me wonder: why does pain and hardship seem to be a magnet to some people, yet not to others?  Yes, we all go through plenty of difficulty in our lives, but some seem to go through much more.  Certainly, much of it comes from our own choices, but I’ve often asked myself if there is something more to this, if there is a reason that this is so.  After all, if everything happens for a reason, then there must be a reason that some of us go through much more than others, right?

A Few Words in Defense of the Press

I was really trying to avoid a political discussion on the blog this month.  Truly, I was.  But President Trump’s attacks on the press have crossed a line, and I cannot remain silent about this. 

Trump has been attacking the press for months, claiming that they are “treating him unfairly”, that they are not covering the truth.  He has gone on record saying that much of the coverage directed at him from mainstream news outlets is nothing but “fake news.”  He has suggested that every negative poll about him is somehow fake.  He has even attacked individual news outlets simply because they won’t give him favorable coverage (which is laughable, because objectivity is a requirement of journalism).  We’ve watched these things for months, but we believed them to be nothing but the musings of a narcissistic coward.  Unfortunately, they were more than that.