Francisco Miraval
At the end of a long day of working or teaching, and on my way home, I don’t want to think about the challenges or problems I face that day or the problems waiting for me the next day. Once protected and separated from the outside world by my car, I like to turn the radio on so I can take a break from the heavy issues in life.
Which radio station should I listen to? One of my favorite radio stations follows a talk-show/interview format where whatever is happening locally, nationally, or internationally is discussed. Sometimes there is some music, but mostly in the context of an interview.
I like being well-informed. Listening to news is not an issue for me. However, at times the avalanche of bad news is as overwhelming, depressing, and disgusting as the daily traffic jam I face every late afternoon. That’s the same traffic jam I want to forget listening to the radio.
The overlapping of catastrophes, disagreements, crisis, and rumors of wars with street sounds; red, green, and yellow lights, and continuous stopping is neither appealing nor calming. Therefore, when my mind and spirit need a change, I change the station and I move to a station to the right of the first one to listen to traditional Christian music.
Listening to those old songs I used to hear many years ago has a soothing effect on my nerves to the point of preventing me from feeling irritated by those drivers more interested in getting to a hospital than getting home, or those drivers who can only see their phones, regardless of how fast they drive or who else may be near them.
It is good to feel I am spiritually and morally superior to those drivers who think driving on the streets is just another videogame. But then, between a song and the next one in the Christian radio station, somebody will do his best to remind me that, after all, I am not better than anybody else and that I too need redemption as any of my unknown and hurried companions of my daily commute.
So, when news stories are depressing and the spiritual message is too overwhelming, I turn to a third radio station, to the right of the first one. With just a click of a button, I move from religious music to humor.
In this third radio station, there is always somebody telling funny stories, most of the time pure fantasy, and sometimes real stories and segments of TV comic shows.
A Little bit of humor is never a bad idea at the end of the day when you feel tired, you are in a traffic jam, and you want to avoid depressing news. However, after a while, it seems I have already heard all the jokes, so I go back to the news.
I feel we live all our lives between depressing news, distressing messages, and stupefying humor. Or perhaps that’s only during our commute back home.