I have just made my usual daily perusal of a few news sites .. MSNBC and CNN and a few others. “What is wrong with these?” my brain asks me. “After all, it is places like these where intelligent people go to become informed about the world.”
But that is the problem, don’t you see? People are becoming informed about the world, not by seeing the world and experiencing it, but by going to places to be told what the world is like, and be told what to think about the world and what goes on within it.
Some people (rightly) condemn Palestinian suicide bombers. Others support them. I’ve driven through Beit Jala and seen, with my own eyes, posters glorifying these young monsters. I’d say my opinion is worth more than that of anyone who has not been there.
How can one excuse not encountering the world directly? It’s impossible, even for people whose job it is, to go to all the places of trouble in the world to see things for themselves.
But one should experience the world as directly as one can. You really do have to show up for at least a little part of your life.
white pebble 