Can Anything Be Learned from TV?

THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY

Can anything be learned from TV?

[Nyerges is an educator and author of nearly two dozen books, such as “Extreme Simplicity,” “How to Survive Anywhere,” “Self-Sufficient Home,” and others.  His web site is www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com]

I took a short lunch break today, sitting down on my couch and turning on the TV.  I wanted to hear the weather forecast, which I never did.

I first learned about a bicyclist who was killed in Torrance, and the killer simply drove away in his Toyota truck.  Shocking!  How is that  a person can run down someone on a bicycle, kill them, and then just drive off into the wild blue yonder?  As someone who looks at the non-sustainability of the Los Angeles area “machine,” I know that more and more of us should take to our bicycles and become a part of the solution.  As I sat shaking my head, I thought about my own lifetime of bicycling, and how I just started bicycling more, in part, inspired by a female friend who wrote about her bicycling to her job in Azusa from Highland Park. Wow!  I used to have difficulty biking to my job  in Pasadena from Highland Park  because I’d show up dripping in sweat and had no way to change or shower.

Drivers need to wake up, and realize that the bicyclist is your friend, and is a friend to the sprawling mass of Los Angeles County.  Don’t treat them as an irritation, or a fly to be swatted.  And bicyclists – some anyway – also need to wake up to the fact that their total 150 pounds of small mass is nothing compared to a minimum 2000 pound car.  I have never figured out why some bicyclists taunt auto drivers, and bicycle far from the curb in a way that makes them a target in a confrontation they can’t win.  As Rodney asked, “Can’t we all get along?”

Then, when I was about a third done with my soup, the news program began showing the wreckage of the aftermath of Hurricane Florence.  OMG! It was clearly not good for my digestion to see whole neighborhoods half underwater, houses turned into splinters, people crying for help, families in need of food and fresh water.  And I watched some of the remarkable rescuers who came out on boats and took people to dry land and brought supplies to those who needed it the most.  There were also showing a convenience store in some town that was being looted, and a few people were arrested. 

As C.S. Lewis so insightfully pointed out in the Screwtape Letters,  times of great stress and disaster brings out the worst in mankind, but somehow it also brings out the very best as well. Heroes are made and lives are changed.  I watched these dramas being played out on my TV screen as I pushed my empty soup bowl to the side and started for my half-sandwich (Subway vegetarian).

Floods of memories flowed through my mind as I recalled two of the best bits of advice for anyone preparing for disasters (or old age, for that matter):  Develop useful skills, and develop deep meaningful relationships with people.  Not “gather lots of stuff,” and not “make sure you have the biggest knife,” etc. ad nauseum.  Yes, stuff is important, but look what Florence did to all that stuff!  You can’t predict the weather, but we should be able to rely upon our own hard-earned skills and our deep friendships.

I didn’t have much time to watch TV, and my sandwich was nearly done, so I flipped around to other stations, and came up with a few ironclad rules of life, though of lesser importance than what I’ve already mentioned.

Number one:  If you have a small claims court case to settle, and you’re guilty, never, ever, under any circumstances, have Judge Judy try your case. She will not only expose you but will humiliate you as well. Try your luck with one of the local judges in a local, non-televised court.

Number two: If anyone from the Jerry Springer show ever calls you to come onto their show to meet some mystery person of your past, don’t even think about calling them back.  It will not turn out well.