At church last Sunday, after the 9:15 service, a congregant approached me, with concern on her face. “Can the new assault on the trans community be true? Haven’t you seen the news?”

I had not. She was referring to the unconscionable proposal to require that gender identity, for all governmental and legal purposes, be determined by genetic testing. Trans and gender fluid individuals would be, in significant ways, written out of existence, their lived experience overridden by whatever chromosomal configuration they received at birth.

The news of this proposal (thankfully, not yet implemented) had been published Sunday morning, just before the beginning of our first worship service. Was the proposal serious or leaked primarily to get a rise out of progressives? Hard to know for sure, but I am cynical enough to believe that such a step is not beyond those now in power.

I was, I hope, supportive of that congregant and promised to check my newsfeeds as soon as my Sunday morning responsibilities allowed.

I found myself experiencing some guilt about my not knowing. Guilt is a sure sign that there is something for me to pay attention to.

The next day, in a meeting with another congregant, I mentioned my distress at that news from the day before. I had had a chance to read about the proposal by that time.

That congregant, however, responded with a somewhat blank stare and reported that, with the exception of a few news sources that focused on issues of particular importance to her, she finds the news cycle too distressing and depressing to follow. Her solution is simply not to listen or read the daily barrage. Within our community, I know that she is not alone.

In my own life, I err too much on the side of “needing” to hear or read the latest outrage. Many of you expect me to be knowledgeable about the state of the political world.

Perhaps, though, that need to know can be justified…or at least rationalized. Dr. Mary McNaughton-Cassill: “Psychological research suggests that the brain is … predisposed to attend to negative information. When media content makes us feel angry, scared or sad, we orient toward the disturbing story to make sure we know how to protect ourselves.” It is the fight or flight response, I suppose. Paying attention may be rooted in a survival mechanism.

But even if I can rationalize paying close attention, I am finding that paying attention all of the time is taking a toll. The website, Bustle.com, just published an article outlining “Seven Signs You Need to Take a Break from the News Cycle”
( https://www.bustle.com/p/7-signs-you-need-to-take-a-break-from-the-news-cycle-49878):

You’re feeling more depressed than usual.
You’re feeling more anxious than usual.
Your sleep schedule is off.
You’re getting more headaches.
Your worries are spiraling.
You’re more irritable.
You’re getting sick.

That is a distressing list. The article concludes with the advice: “don’t forget to take care of yourself both physically and mentally.”

I would add spiritually. The news is not the only source of that list of problems…to be sure. But it might be contributing to dis-ease of one kind or another.

One of the few things about which Americans now seem to agree is the need for a break from the news. A recent survey published in The Atlantic reports that 72% of all respondents feel they need a break. That includes 70% of Democrats and fully 77% of Republicans. Women are the most likely to say they need a break (80%), but so do more than 2/3 of men. At least white men and women.

With less than two weeks to go until the mid-term elections, it seems certain that the outrageous proposals and the lies will proliferate.

As a faith with a spiritual center AND a civic circumference, we need to pay attention and be aware, especially of those places where our voice needs to be raised in acts of resistance.

But pay attention in the ways and in the amounts that allow you to retain some sense of balance. I am preaching to myself, of course, as well as to you all. None of us, nor the issues about which we care deeply, will be well served if we allow the news cycle to be victorious.

Blessings,

Bill