As we were driving yesterday, my husband flipped on the radio and Bill O'Reilly came on. We often listen to him during our lunch drive, but I was in the middle of thinking about *something* that was relevant to us personally, and the radio conversation drove my incipent Important Relevation right out of my head.
And so I flipped the radio off with an "ARRRGGGGHHH!" and tried to remember what it was I was about to have a EUREKA moment about, but the idea had passed and I was left pondering the essential weirdness in letting your mind follow someone else's thought processes without having any of your own.
You might gain an insight into the cure for a national problem that way, but you also prevent yourself from thinking through a personal problem when you do that. And really, what's more important to me? A national problem that LOTS of other people are thinking about and probably wouldn't listen to me if I had a better idea anyway--- or pondering personal problems that no one BUT me really thinks about anyway?
Which is more valuable to me? Yet more prognosticating on illegal immigration? Or possibly a better way to deal with my daughter's case of mono? Or some important point I'd forgotten to talk to my husband about, regarding our house renovation project? Or our hay harvest?
What was it that was driven out of my head?
And how often does that happen? How many times have I been about to realize something kewl and some talking head drags my awareness along their path instead of the one I needed more?
I don't think I need "news" anymore. I have enough to think about on my own.