The Greatest Show on Earth

Recently I learned that if one watches much more than 2 hours of television a day, there is a much greater likelihood of being depressed. Not too surprising given the general fare being thrown to the masses, but I suspect even if one is selective in what is being watched, the tendency remains.

Consider also that people that do watch TV probably underestimate the amount they watch. Let's face it - the Jersey Shore here, the Secret Life there, and there you go! Everything after that - Spongebob, educational or otherwise, is adding to the old depression scale...tipping, tipping, and for what? The meter's running.

But we like to live dangerously. After all, the consequences are negative, but neither immediate nor certain, so we roll them bones. And what of those that just leave the TV running in the background? That's gotta count somewhere (like on your electric meter for one place, and for this reason alone one should report to the disintegration chamber).

Lately I have been consciously reducing the amount of television I am exposed to. And the result is surprisingly a lot like what happened when I was no longer exposed to cigarette smoke - I am a lot more sensitive to it and can only take so much. That's telling me something.

"My" Forest in the Fall Sunset. Too involved to take a picture tonight.

So tonight I decided to take in the sunset. In the shade of the house the temperature was perfect. I watched the setting sun paint the oak and sycamore tree leaves golden-green and the breeze danced through the forest. The treetops swayed randomly and the leaves fluttered.

I turned into the sun and watched the ballet of the clouds. There were two distinct levels. Each had its own activity, and the levels moved relative to each other. One level filtered the sun's rays and occasionally the levels would collide. The silver linings would dissipate with the clouds as they expanded and glowed from within.

For those that extract, a lively set of clouds can be quite revealing. A natural Rohrshach test of sorts. I thought how the clouds at sunset create images like dreams - creating space, light and color and their absence. Never really there and the closer examined, the more difficult to define. And then - changed.

Next time you catch yourself mindlessly turning on the TV, or see the sunset streaming color and light, or the clouds rolling gently above or with violence before a storm - watch the show that never reruns. The Greatest Show on Earth.