That's All I can stands, I can't stands no more! (24 hour news, that is.)
Remember Popeye saying that?
That's pretty much where I am in life. Smack dab in the "I can't stands no more!" era.
Remember when we were young and the local TV station would broadcast the local news at 6:00pm and then at 6:30pm Walter Cronkite would come on and tell us about what was happening around the country and the world? Weren't those the good old days? We didn't have the constant streaming 24/7 news cycle. We had one hour to listen to everything going on both locally and all over the world. At the end of every broadcast Walter Cronkite would say "And that's the way it is" and we could watch Sanford & Son, All in the Family or whatever sitcom or drama was on TV and know that what Walter Cronkite had said that night was pretty much, well, the way it was. I miss Walter Cronkite.
Nowadays, if you watch any of the 24 hour news channels, you cannot be sure what to believe. It goes a little something like this...
"BREAKING NEWS!! Farmer Fred's mule has died. More on the story as details emerge..."
1hour later...
"Farmer Fred's mule was the oldest mule in the world and has passed away at the age of 45. We have dispatched our reporters to the farm in Idaho to learn more details. More on the story later in our broadcast..."
5 times before the reporters even get to Farmer Fred's farm, the newscasters, in the studio, announce that the mule is dead, in between other news stories from around the country and the globe.
An hour later, a reporter arrives at the rural farm to find Farmer Fred out in one of his pastures alongside of a mule which is surely dead. Legs straight up in the air. Dead. The reporter does his best to break the news to the entire world that Old Silas is, in fact, dead. Every one of the reporters in the newsroom is sad to hear that Silas The World's Oldest Mule has died. So they begin to wonder what happened to old Silas. "More details to come on the death of Silas..."
Farmer Fred is a little sad that Silas has passed away but being an old farmer, he knows that things like this happen often on the farm so he goes about his business and calls a neighbor who has a backhoe and another friend who has a truck with a lift, in hopes that they are willing to help him bury old Silas on his 500 acre farm. Of course, this is a farming community so they agree to help each other and soon will arrive to help Farmer Fred.
By now, every news organization has picked up the story and all of the satellite trucks, camera crews and reporters are camped out at the entrance of Fred's farm. Everyone rushes to get the next event covered before the other station can "break the news". By now a crowd has formed outside of the gate. Onlookers, neighbors, family friends. The reporters begin to interview people in the crowd before the backhoe and the lift can get to the farm to help. Family friends begin telling the reporters about how Fred was a young man when Silas was born and how he had taken care of Silas as he worked the farm. Fred and Silas had plowed many of the fields before Fred could afford a tractor. Some of the neighbors are then interviewed and they tell the same story of how Fred and Silas plowed the fields and how Silas would carry the crops on his back while Fred led him.
Now the backhoe and truck with the lift arrive..."BREAKING NEWS...Silas, the oldest mule in the world, to be buried before sunset on the Idaho farm where he lived his life with Farmer Fred. More as this story develops..."
BUT WAIT!! Some of the onlookers begin talking amongst themselves and begin to wonder aloud if Farmer Fred worked poor Silas to death. A reporter overhears the conversation and hurries over to interview the onlookers.
"BREAKING NEWS (AGAIN!!) This is John Sterling with XYZ Network reporting from Farmer Fred's farm in Idaho where news has just broken that Farmer Fred may have abused his mule, working the poor mule to death in 100 degree heat some days and no water trough for Silas to drink from. More details as they come in. Back to the studio."
Now Farmer Fred is an older gentleman and he is used to doing the hard job of farming so he is completely focused on digging a deep hole for Silas to be buried in so he goes about choosing a spot that isn't too far away but not in the middle of his pasture. He begins digging in the chosen spot and he notices that an awfully large crowd has formed and some people have began to yell at him, throw rocks at him and some even have signs that read "Fred Murdered Silas". Farmer Fred doesn't even recognize any of the people who are yelling at him and throwing rocks. Now, I have to tell you that if you have never seen a large barnyard animal such as a horse, cow or a mule, that has died, being hoisted up by its legs, it is not for the faint of heart. Farmer Fred has spent his entire life on a farm so he already knows what is about to happen. As the straps tighten on the lift and Silas is being lifted in the air, there suddenly appears a drone over the field and Fred doesn't know this but the burial of Silas is being broadcast all over the world by now. Farmer Fred covers the mule with the earth that he uncovered to bury his oldest animal.
Now, y'all, this has taken hours.
When the machinery turns off and Farmer Fred has finished to task of burying Old Silas, he walks slowly down the road to the entrance to his farm to see what the ruckus is all about and to say hello to the one friend and one neighbor left in the rowdy crowd. An onslaught of reporters with cameramen in tow with long booms, that to him looks like a raccoon on a stick, rushes to him to get a statement about the death of Old Silas.
"BREAKING NEWS (AGAIN!!!) We have with us, Farmer Fred, who murdered his 45-year old mule Silas after years of abuse, manual labor and malnourishment. Farmer Fred, what do you have to say for yourself? We have animal rights activists here who want to know why you worked that poor mule to death. Why did you bury Silas so soon after he passed? What are you hiding?"
The chanting crowd behind the pool of reporters is crying "Justice for Silas!" over and over.
Farmer Fred takes off his hat. Wipes his sweaty brow and says "Do you see this field over here? It is filled with alfalfa. Do you see those barrels over there? They are filled with only purified spring water. Now, do you see that old tractor over there? That old tractor is what I have used for the past 42 years to harvest the alfalfa that Silas loved to eat. That old tractor has been my plow for the past 42 years. Silas hasn't worked a day since but he was my animal to take care of so I took care of him like he was my pet for the past 42 years. Yes, he pulled my plow for a couple of years before I could afford that old tractor but Silas was a big strong mule and I needed him and he needed me. I needed him to make an honest living and to feed my family and many others in this community. He needed me to keep him fit, fed and watered. And, folks, sometimes farm animals die. And that's the way it is."
And tomorrow Old Silas and Farmer Fred will be forgotten on page 12 of the local newspaper.
Why? Because all the reporter needed to say was that the oldest mule had passed away. We don't need hours or days of speculation on one subject. Can we just find out the facts before reporting them? What happened to investigative journalism? What happened to honesty in journalism? What happened to telling the public the truth? Do we have to question what could happen, should happen, didn't happen, won't happen...It's not THE WAY THAT IT IS anymore!!
