Watching The News Can Be Dangerous To Your ...  PRO

WATCHING THE NEWS CAN BE DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH, that is, your psychological health. Since most of the news is of a negative nature, if one is not careful, he/she can develop a very pessimistic view of human nature. Consider the following:

The year is 2065. An astronaut has been stranded alone in a space station for three years. Then one day, the astronaut receives a reply to his S.O.S. radio calls. The captain of a nearby shuttle has dispatched a rescue craft to the space station. As the rescue vehicle docks with the space station, the officer in charge says to the stranded astronaut, “Captain sends his compliments, sir, also these newspapers. Kindly read the news of the world as soon as possible and then inform the captain as to whether or not you wish to be rescued.”

Well, I happen to be one of those individuals that believe that most people are law-abiding, considerate, and generally nice, in spite of all that is presented by the media. And even though I do believe that human beings are seriously flawed, I also believe that common grace is at work in our world. Allow me to give you an example.

A friend of mine recently shared a story with me about a trip he and his wife took out west. They stopped in Des Moines, Iowa to gas up and when he was finished paying with his credit card, he inadvertently left his wallet on the roof of the car.

They drove off and stopped for the night in North Platt, Nebraska. It was then that they discovered the missing wallet. His wife had the good sense to call right away and stop payment on all the credit cards, but now he was driving without his license, say nothing of all the other valuable information contained in that wallet.

What they didn’t know, was that the wallet fell off on an expressway entrance ramp, and a passing motorist saw it and retrieved it. Amazing in itself! But that’s not the end of the story. This thoughtful gentleman left a message on their home phone in Michigan with his telephone number. And when they checked their messages, they called the number that he had left. He asked if they had lost something and to please tell him what it was. They did, and he returned the...

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