Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Boulevard of Broken Dreams



No one, the old saw goes, reports on the planes that land without mishap.

But the crashes. Oh, the crashes.

And we are plane crash-watchers.

It’s easy to blame social media, particularly when it offers us, almost weekly, live feeds and play-by-plays of others in disintegration. But social media is just the latest manifestation of something that’s been going on likely since cuneiform, hieroglyphics, and cave paintings.

And I can’t click my tongue at the crash-watchers, because Iread the feeds and play-by-plays. I probably would not watch a video. Probably. Because video puts it too close. Snide texts, posts, or tweets where the event is interpreted rather than presented raw, removes us enough from caring about either side to help the drama enter the realm of entertainment.

And watching one? A Tony Bennett song, to be sure. More evidence we’ve been doing this long before social media.


Fortunately, there is plenty of evidence out there of healthy relationships. Or at least relationships where spouses are talking through difficulties and working things out. And even getting caught being happy together. There are songs that go along with those too.


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