Randi Kreiss

Hard-wired to worry? Try turning a page.

Posted

We all have our individual tipping points. Call it the moment when you start screaming at the TV.

I began to crack around the edges last week when a testosterone-driven Bobby Knight, ranting on behalf of Donald Trump, cheered Harry Truman for having the “guts” to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, thereby saving “billions” of American lives.

Bobby, Bobby, it’s long past your bedtime. If we judge people, even a little bit, by their friends and supporters, we have to consider what it means to have Knight, Sarah Palin and Gov. Chris Christie standing beside Trump. At least then-Sen. Barack Obama distanced himself from the confrontational Rev. Jeremiah Wright when he began running off the rails.

I cracked further when Ted Cruz embraced Carly Fiorina as his running mate. And then she sang to his daughters. And then I realized (not that it matters) that Cruz and Fiorina look like twins separated at birth.

I cracked, and finally I snapped, as I realized that Trump does have a clear path to the GOP nomination, and if he’s nominated, he has a chance of winning. Nothing is impossible. We’ll live with this political battle for the next seven months and with the result for years, but I need a time-out to recharge my batteries.

If we can’t relocate our bodies, then at least we can relocate our minds. Reading has always been a great escape from reality, and escape is what we need these days. The constant barrage of news in our homes, in our cars, at the mall and on our devices is intrusive and debilitating. Whose political war chest is bigger? How many died in Syria today? How fast are the polar ice caps melting?

We are besieged, day and night, not only by loathsome political attacks but also by threats of violence by terrorists lurking in sleeper cells, e-coli lurking in our lettuce and rising tides. Because this takes a fearsome toll on our psychological health, I recommend a temporary news fast and a fiction spree. Turn off the damn TV. Don’t worry; if something important happens, your friends with tell you.

Page 1 / 2