Sensationalism & Self-righteous indignation perfectly passible the day after? Why, then, are supermarket shelves stripped bare during the hours I am so disappointed in myself for the way I got leading up to the storm’s arrival? caught up in the ridiculous controversy surrounding the Patriots and deflated footballs, (so called This can’t be good for us . . . this sort of “Deflategate”). For a few days there, I could not sensationalism, hype and misplaced indignation. I get enough sports talk radio and news clips on this realize that I’m grouping some odd things together topic, and it all fueled a defensive attitude about my into one category; but what they all have in very close friends, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. common is that they “yank our chain:” And, in turn, I think the media and others are trying to get us Well, they’re not exactly my close friends: In fact, addicted to getting our “chain yanked:” Instead of they don’t even know I exist. But, the Patriots are “shooting up” heroin, or taking pills, we can count my team! They represent me, right? If they win, I on the news people and others to get our adrenal win, right? . . . Or something like that . . . glands revved up. I am also ashamed at how much coverage of the recent “blizzard” I watched on local and national television: I was, you might say, “a glutton” about it. I watched CNN with the satisfaction that they were highlighting my state and showing the rest of the nation the monster we were up against and how noble that made us . . . while “they” sit comfortably on some beach sipping on a drink with an umbrella in it. . . . or, something like that. . .

On further reflection, I think that my reaction to the All of this is a product of a society which has the whole silly scandal of deflated footballs was more luxury of manufacturing crises, disasters, of a reaction against the way in which such an cataclysms and scandals. Meanwhile, there are insignificant issue was ‘inflated’ to such children living in rubble in the city of Aleppo, preposterous dimensions and the self-righteous Syria: And there are families in Haiti who look at indignation of so many other football players, open sewers out of the front door of the tent in coaches and pundits . . . as if this was the most which they live, having lost their house in an outrageous offense against football and, indeed, earthquake. I need to remind myself that these and humanity that had ever been perpetrated. others are the real cataclysms and disasters. Indeed, It is pretty humbling for me—someone who thinks they are far away, but they are real! Shame on me he’s mostly rational--- to get sucked into something for getting sucked in! Shame on us! so evidently concocted and trivial. But this is the What might our Lord’s opinion be on all this? culture of spin-doctoring, sensationalism, and sound Perhaps the following: bites in which we find ourselves. “You will hear of wars and reports of wars; see that As for the second example; every snow storm and, you are not alarmed, for these things must happen, increasingly, every weather event is being treated as but it will not be the end,” (Mt. 24:6) something Armageddon-ish . . . as if great cataclysmic disaster is upon us. And yet, how many “Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take snowstorms have we been in over the past decade care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil,” where the majority of main roads have not be made Mt. 6:34