That for which we are designed

Periodically my husband and I go on a "news fast," banning newspapers, radio news, and Internet news sites from the house. Although we're both interested in contemporary politics and culture (and I'm seriously addicted to reading The New Yorker), sometimes it's also a political act to deliberately disengage with the wider world (as filtered through mass media, with its heart-numbing emphasis on crisis and consumerism) in order to engage more fully with one's own community, family, landscape, and the art they inspire.  

"In the best of times, our days are numbered anyway," Alistair Cooke once said. "So it would be a crime  against nature for any generation to take the world crisis so solemnly that it put off enjoying those things for which we were designed in the first place: the opportunity to do good work, to enjoy friends, to  fall in love, to hit a ball, and to bounce a baby."

And to drink good tea. And to make good music. And to share our lives with each other, and a good dog. Let the June News Fast begin.