Getting Cranky

In my younger days I wondered at the older folks who admitted that there were times when they just couldn't handle any more bad news, so the radio dial got turned to fluff and trivia. I've always been a news hound so that seemed impossible to me.

But I'm one of them now, at least a little. I was listening to a broadcast on the local NPR station from the Commonwealth Club in which the speaker was laying out all the reasons that the US couldn't have the kind of economic recovery it had in the past. Earlier in the day I had been reminded that the time we are buying for our oldest cat with the subcutaneous hydration may be quite limited. And the day had a few other of life's normal frustrations.

I lasted just a few minutes into the broadcast and turned the dial to a local talk and music show. I really couldn't listen to that information at that moment.

Is this a troubling withdrawal or a rational act of self-preservation, just shutting off the noise long enough to regain the ability to manage things? Time will tell. I hope it is the latter.