It is said the Chinese have a traditional saying that is believed to be a curse: “May you live in interesting times.” While it sounds like a nice sentiment at first, the true meaning is that you experience turbulence and uncertainty rather than peace and tranquility.
There’s almost no concrete evidence that this is an actual traditional Chinese saying and the earliest instance of it was in English in the late 19th century. But the sentiment holds. And I think right now, we’re all wishing to live in uninteresting times.
I know I am.
The pandemic. The recession. Protests. The election. And now insurrection and sedition.
And that was just in the last twelve months. We also experienced a lot in the last four years. It seemed we haven’t had a slow news day in a long, long time.
Seriously. Anyone remember the last slow news day?
Bueller?
As longtime readers (I assume I have them) of this blog know, I am a history-loving dork. So I grew up reading books and studying history and wondering what it was like to live during exciting times such as the Revolution, the Civil War, the Suffragette Movement, etc. What was it like to see the world change around you? To know you were living through something that would no doubt go down in history?
Now, I know. It’s exhausting. Yes, there’s some excitement but there’s also some terror and a lot of uncertainty.
Though I do wonder if maybe it wasn’t as exhausting back then because in many places, they were removed from the main parts of the action. The experience on the American home front during World War II was certainly different than the British home front. While we had blackout drills, we were not subjected to nightly bombing campaigns like the British and our country is not littered with World War II battlefields. And most Civil War battles were fought in the South, so did Northerners have some distance in that regard?
And is it exhausting for us because news can be reported instantaneously? That we are able to experience these things in real time? I first found out about the siege of the Capitol while checking Twitter, which then caused me to turn on CBS and watch their live broadcasts. We were able to watch this for hours as people stormed into the building, attacked Capitol Police and were just an angry mob. We could then also see pictures and videos from inside the Capitols posted by insurrectionists, Congress members and staffers alike. We experienced it as it happened.
Maybe this is the natural destination of following the news. We’ve gone from reading about news that was maybe days to weeks to months old back during the Revolution to having news stories that are only a day or two old during the Civil War thanks to the telegraph. Then people would watch newsreels that were days or weeks old during both World Wars, though they did the radio to keep them informed during the Second World War. And then video from the Vietnam War could be broadcast on newscasts across the country, maybe only hours old at that point. The 80s brought us 24 hour news channels and people could follow along with events in real time, like when Baby Jessica got stuck down the well.
Now, I chose to watch the news. I chose to continue scrolling through my Twitter feed. And I chose to retweet and comment on what happened. That was what I decided I needed during that failed coup. I know other people had to focus on other things that weren’t the failed coup and so filled their Twitter feed with what they needed to cope.
Everyone is different and we shouldn’t pressure people into experiencing a major event the same way we do.
Just as we have the power to follow along with events in real-time, we also have the choice not to. Everyone has to make the choice that is best for them. With everything going on, we all have to take care of ourselves until things calm down.
Which hopefully will be soon.
Another friendly reminder to also check my Patreon weekly for more updates or fun things there.
I hope you all have a great week!
