Tag Archives: Politics

Are Local Stories Being Overshadowed by National Spectacles and Scandals?

I cannot remember the last time I tuned in to my local radio stations. It used to be an every-day thing, surfing through AM and FM channels that carried a multitude of stories and opinions of the people and places right in my own community. All that has changed, however, in the constant drama swirling around the three branches of government.

Regardless of which side you align with, it is both polarizing and paralyzing. The news breaks faster than it can be covered, and many of us are afraid to turn away in fear of missing the latest remark or revelation.

If we do choose to somehow turn away, it’s not to our local news. Instead, we’re binge-watching our favorite TV shows to numb the outrage and frustration, or we’re listening to music that carries us away to simpler times, or transcends us to calmer ways.

As a result, our local news suffers. I used to be a news junkie for Baltimore (hence the title of this site as “The Baltimore Writer,” but now I find it hard to dig deeper into the essential stories that are changing lives around us in the state of Maryland. We’re neglecting the people who are making a difference for others, and we’re not staying tapped into the deeper stories of the local scandals and attacks that we must be mindful of.

We need to strike a stronger balance in the time we spend between the local and national stories. I can contribute to this effort by using this space here to share more of those local stories.

We must be encouraged to stay rooted in our local news, our community contributors, and our regional matters that most directly affect us. While the hourly drama coming out of the congress and the white house might be engaging and, in the darkest sense, entertaining, we must not neglect the news of our neighbors.

I’m going to dig deeper right here in Baltimore to find the stories of the people making a real difference and present them to you here.

Should I begin with you? Drop me a note at rus.vanwestervelt@gmail.com. Let me know what you are doing (or somebody else) to make Baltimore a better place for all….

Here’s to a good day embracing your local communities…. Rus

Focus on One Thing

I made some pretty bold moves this weekend, and I’m a lot better off this Sunday night than I was just 48 hours ago. It’s because of some advice that I received last week, on something totally unrelated to what I just discovered.

A little backstory here is necessary. Since the 2016 presidential election, I, like millions of others, have been pretty gripped with the polarizing politics here in the United States. It doesn’t matter what side you are on; it’s been emotionally draining for everyone. Relationships of all kinds have been strained, and I’ve acknowledged several times here and on social media how I have been overwhelmed by it all. It has affected my writing, my art, my love for music, my everything. I’ve been passionate about fighting for what I believe is right, and as a result, so much around me has suffered.

Fast forward to last week, when I turned in my article to my Catholic Review editor. After he had a chance to read it, we had a phone conference about the story. His bottom line: Focus on one thing, and then write about that one thing.

Let me repeat that:

Focus on one thing.

In the context of writing, it is a fairly rigid rule to keep it simple and be direct. It’s good advice that I’ve heard, and shared, over the years. My editor was spot on.

So fast forward five days, and here I am, still struggling with fluctuating polls, vitriolic tweets, hypocritical rants from all sides, and paralyzing gridlock in my newsfeed. I texted a friend of mine that I had lost my love for reading, for listening to music, for going on photo shoots. It was as if I had picked up a handful of crayons and had scribbled relentlessly through my thoughts, scrambling any coherent idea or passion that was possible.

No passion. No focus.

Then, for whatever reason, my editor’s words popped into my head: Focus on one thing.

It would be easy for me to apply this advice by ridding my life of the distractions that are keeping me from my art. Delete the politics, and the focus returns. That would certainly work, at least in the short term.

But when I meditated on my editor’s advice, I realized something a little deeper.

If I focus my energy on my own gifts, and how I can make a change in this world through deliberate acts, then I will no longer be paralyzed by the things I cannot control.

I immediately thought of my mentors, including my patron saint Francis de Sales, and Mother Theresa, Ghandi, and Thich Nhat Hanh. While each of them might have been political, all of them were driven by their gifts of benevolence, peace, and charity. They looked for the common ground and not the things that divide us.

In other words, it’s not enough to delete the politics from our lives. I’m actually suggesting just the opposite. We need to, first and foremost, focus on the one thing that we are best at when it comes to making our communities healthy. Once we do that, everything else will take care of itself.

For me, these acts are done for – and through – God. And if I can offer contributions to my community that improve its overall health and wellness, then we are shielded from the things that are tearing others apart. In fact, it diminishes that contentious hold on us and begins to return us to a higher ground of respect toward all.

So as we navigate our energies through these turbulent times, focus on that one thing that you do well for others, and don’t worry so much about the things you can’t control. I believe that if more of us contribute kindness to others in our own communities, we will begin to feel a shift in our country’s larger energy for the values we believe are essential, not only for today but for our children’s future.

Our actions today are developing their focus for tomorrow; let’s make sure they focus on one thing: benevolence toward all.