I turned on the TV the other day and started flipping through channels and paused on the local news, now ever since I lost my job in October, I have practically quit watching the news on TV, and quite frankly it has been refreshing. I mean you see nothing on there except doom and gloom. Well the first thing I see is a video clip of a large male beating a 101 year old woman. My anger shot through the roof, and I just thought what kind of coward does it take to do such a thing. I quickly changed the channel not wanting my children to see such a thing.

Now on one hand I am thinking, don’t the kids need to see to some extent the suffering that goes on in the world, so they can appreciate the life that they have and develop a sense of compassion and a need to help those that are less fortunate than others. And on the other hand as a parent your natural instinct is to shield them from any heartache and pain.

I have vowed to raise my kids much differently than I was raised. My parents divorced when I was very young, in fact I have no memories of being with my father before age 10. Now first let me say I hold no grudge for the events that happened, and love my mom and dad more than anything, sometimes things happen, maybe for the better maybe for the worst, but the point is, you cannot let things that have happened in the past, affect your future. I also grew up in a family that was prejudiced against other races, and I frequently heard the slurs that absolutely drive me crazy. So in my house my children have never heard those types of words, now I am sure my oldest son (7) has probably heard things at school, and I cannot help that, but hopefully if mom and dad doesn’t say those things then he will emulate us.

Now getting back to exposing my children to the suffering that is going on around the world is it Important? For who? Feeling sorry for people does that raise this world’s consciousness? Does it help anything or anybody?

Yes I know about all the horrors from the war waste, I know about the poor people in Africa, the fights on the streets, the anger and abuse in the homes, the social terror, the political unjustice etc but do I really HAVE to keep listening, seeing, knowing and feeling the pain and anger myself, or exposing my children to this? Am I being cruel, ignorant and “cold blooded” because I do not want to watch the news, since I do not want to take part of the world’s misery or feel sorry for the victims?

The thing that feels right, makes me shine, is being as true as I possible can to myself and to my family. I feel love so I send love. I smile to my surroundings, talk to strangers, open doors and give my time, listen and share and help people feel the energy and flow. That’s what I can do.

Let’s live in harmony with ourselves and we will help everybody. We are in this together.

[tags]Inspiration,Spiritual,Buddhism,hope,peace,charles hamel,Charleshamel.com[/tags]

1. 

   Davin says:

   March 11, 2007 at 10:11 pm

   Well actually Charles I can relate to a lot of what your saying. They say that if you surround yourself with negativity and the like then that’s exactly what will become your actions and what will come out of your mouth as well.

   I think that includes television and the news. Surround yourself with positive things and vibes and then that becomes you as well. I think the latter makes more sense to me.

   Cheers Davin
2. 

   Charles Hamel says:

   March 11, 2007 at 11:37 pm

   I think the same Davin, I am just torn sometimes whether the kids should know that those kind of things go on in the world or maybe wait till they are older.

   Thanks for your comments my friend.
3. 

   Everyday Weekender says:

   March 14, 2007 at 2:40 pm

   GREAT POST!.. I agree with what you’re saying. I spent a lot of my years surrounding myself with negativity – it wasn’t healthy for me. Now I try and focus on the good things and i try and surround myself with positive things.

   I recently started a blog which i hope will talk about enjoying the finer things in life.

   Great post. I enjoy your blog.
4. 

   Charles Hamel says:

   March 14, 2007 at 5:13 pm

   Thanks for your comment, negativity can really tear someone down, we must strive for positive in our life if we ever expect to break from this cycle.
5. 

   Doodee says:

   February 3, 2008 at 2:59 pm

   Thanks for sharing