UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

NEW SPECIMENS OLD SPECIMENS THE SCIENTIST MY LOG CONTACT ME
2002-07-24 - 8:36 p.m.

DREAMING

Today Day-Hay decided to read more than the comics out of the local newspaper. Having Day-Hay read the newspaper always makes me a bit apprehensive. She can be such a worrier without reading the most current parade of horribles in the local news. Still, if she must have the news, I�d rather she read it than saw it on television. The pictures people paint for themselves are rarely as graphic as some of what appears on television news these days.

The newspapers still cover the �boring� local stories about recall elections and such, not just the fires and car chases and shootings. If she�s reading the paper, there is a chance she�s reading about a kangeroo that got lose or a cougar spotted somewhere in Iowa. If she�s watching local television news, she�s hearing stories painted with a sensationalist brush. Better the newspaper than the news.

But I�m still concerned. I know, partly because it is part of my job to know, that the rate of child abductions by strangers is fairly low. She has no such background or knowledge. She has no filter nor any of the protection experience sometimes gives. I remember being twelve and feeling that the world was a very dangerous place. At twelve I had little armor to protect my soul and my core. I doubt she has much more.

Interestingly though, according to Mr. Philately, what drew her was a murder-suicide. He thinks the suicide drew her in. Suicide is a topic that surfaces from time-to-time here. My children survived the suicide of an uncle approximately five years ago. The topic resurfaces as they reach different developmental stages. Yet she did not ask about the suicide. She did ask if Mr. Philately knew one of the people quoted in the paper and he did. She said nothing more and neither did he. I don�t know what she was thinking.

I have no intention of hiding newspapers from a twelve year old so I guess I�ll just have to take the world as the paper paints it, if not how it really is. I�d like to remake the world for her but I can�t.

Still, a girl can dream...

LAST YEAR: I�ll Be Calling You-ou-ou

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