How many of us in the younger generations actually know what is going on outside of our towns? Maybe a few, right? Hopefully, anyways, especially with how there is so much going on. Yet, I'm guilty of being one of the blissful ignorant. I'm terrible about keeping up with what goes on outside of my town unless it's on Facebook or someone brings it up in a conversation I'm a part of.
When you get busy you don't take the time to sit down and read the newspaper or watch the news. If you're going to watch something, you want it to be something interesting and the same goes for you read something. If it doesn't seem interesting to you then you won't pay attention to it.
The internet has a lot of different pages and websites that you can be on to help keep in touch. However, social media has slightly ruined us and you shouldn't believe a lot of what you see on the internet due to people posting false things. I have a hard time trusting what I read if it's off of Facebook or any other website due to this. Plus, it's just so easy to scroll past all the news articles or posts that there's almost no point in even having them in the first place. If I wanted to read about what the Kardashians were doing, I would google it.
Yes, there are also apps that you can get on your phones/tablets/laptops, but my thing is that I want to have room for the other things that I pay attention to more and like to do. Reading about what is going on in Colorado? Eh, it won't hurt me.
But this isn't the best mindset for anybody to have.
It's not the best way to think or live life because there are things in this world that will harm you if you don't pay attention to what is going on in the news. I can honestly say that I have no idea what exactly is going on with anything in politics because I avoid reading things or watching the news. That is in no way healthy for me or for my family in the future. If I don't know what is going on, how am I going to be able to make decisions that will help my family in tough times?
Not staying in touch will also make it difficult to be able to vote. If you're not checking in on the candidates of the election, such as for presidency or even for mayor, you aren't really going to know which one you truly like. You need to learn about them, about what they're hoping to accomplish and about what they may be able to bring to the country/town that you live in. Do their values line up with yours? Is there something you want to be done or not be done and the candidate goes against that? If you don't know, then how can you accurately vote for someone into an office that they may not be able to run properly?
You also get really behind in things that are really important to know about. School shootings are important to know about, as well as what kind of laws are being passed in other states because those could potentially show up in your own state. If you don't know what they are or what is going on with them, how will you be able to vote with a good answer?
It's so easy to get caught up in your daily life and ignore the lives of other people. But as human beings, we need to be more observant about what other people are going through. If we aren't, then we're going to miss out on lessons and keep repeating things that really ought not to be repeated. So, do you know what's going on outside of your town?
I'll leave you with a quote from Stephen Fry - "If ignorance is bliss, why aren't there more happy people in the world?"
