How many times have we heard THAT before? When I showed my wife this graphic she began to laugh and said, "That reminds me of that New Madrid scare right before Jordan (our youngest, born in January of 1991) was born!"
Ah, yes! The New Madrid Fault "end of the world as we now know it" scare of December 1990. Anyone else out there remember that one? You see, living in Northwest Arkansas at the time made the "craziness" even a little bit crazier since we were fairly close AND not too far from the fault line as a whole.
Warnings were issued almost nightly from the television as well as the radio for everyone to be making "disaster relief kits" in order to be ready when "THE earthquake" hit.
I remember seeing news footage of all of the satellite trucks that had crowded the streets of that little town. Hey, at least BUSINESS was good for the locals, right?
The day - December 3, 1990 - came and went. No earthquake. Would you think that I'd be making it up if I told you that some people came away from that day a little disappointed? Well friend, I wouldn't be making it up simply because of the huge, relentless build up for this "event".
It came and it went without incident and the media had nothing else to talk about with such emphasis. Well, not until the next "big thing" came along.
Currently, if you turn on the national news (yes, and even the local news) you will find wild stories about the "ebola outbreak". Now, don't get me wrong. Death - to and for anyone - is a horrible thing to come due to some disease. I'm not taking that lightly at all. People have died.
But, what I AM saying is for all of us to step back, take a deep breath and realize that the sky really isn't falling.
Understand that the media MUST report such things to the point of hysteria in order to "stay in business". Like it or not, that is the truth. And, it is also true that there is fierce competition between the different stations to "out-do" one another in their reports and interviewing of "experts" (now, usually that term gets stretched to the breaking point!) or whatever it takes to get them the most viewers.
Still don't believe me? What does YOUR local station do when there is some sort of storm in your area that is a little out of the ordinary? You DO know what I mean, don't you? They even come up with daunting "names" for these events: "The Fierce and Frightening Flood of '01" . I just made that up but you've seen similar things, haven't you?
Here in Arkansas, the weatherman can predict a couple of inches of snow or a little ice and you would think that the Polar Ice Cap was planning to move in. EVERY newscast has some guy from the Highway and Transportation department being interviewed to find out what they are doing to prepare for this "life-altering event" that is headed our way!
And, honestly, "religious people" can be some of the worst ones of the whole bunch! Hey, just remember that I AM A BELIEVER, o.k.? But it seems that any little unusual event brings up the whole "end times" scenario that prepares us for the end of the world.
Here's the deal: you can allow yourself to get "sucked in" to all of this and get all worked up and stressed out over these things that are often presented as MUCH WORSE than they actually are. You can believe that or not - that obviously is your choice - but friend, this is part of the "negativity" that I always talk about us having a need to protect ourselves from...know what I mean?
I hope so because, after all, the sky really ISN'T falling.
Thanks for your time. Until next time, be sure to...
"Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)"
Mike
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