BURN NOTICE: DIATRIBE Button triggered

We live in paradoxical times now.

Time to quote Dickens's "A Tale of Two Cities:"

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

I should apologize for what I am about to write upfront, but something is bothering me and has been for a long time.

I don't like to complain because life is too short, and I have spent way too much of life upset over a few crappy situations I found myself in. For several years I have refused to do that anymore. It's not been easy at times, but I try to stay positive.

For 90% of you reading this, the following "diatribe" is not aimed at or about you.

Wondering what diatribe means?

I selected it for a very particular reason.

I learned this word long ago but never completely understood its meaning. Honestly, I think I was too young to really care at the time.

In my mind, it meant upset.

About 14 years ago, I took the time to research the origins of that word.

What I learned was difficult to admit.

Why?

Because I was complaining about something relentlessly that upset me: I knew there had to be something stronger to explain what I was ranting about. My feelings were important, and I needed an excuse to "witch" about why my life sucked.

However, I soon discovered a diatribe is not something most people would want to endure, and I was MASTERING in it for more than 4 years at this point.

DIATRIBE: Roots in Greece, "A pastime of continued discourse, critical dissertation" or "learned discussion," and I was perfectly OK with that. If I had stopped right there, I probably would still be "witching my life away" and forcing everyone I knew to listen.

But I didn't, I wanted to know more...

Plato said "discourse" is literally "wearing away of time." An updated explanation is "a waste of time."

I could have given lectures about my diatribes then, and to be honest with myself, I bet there were family members and friends who saw me coming and then ran away.

That knowledge made me realize I hadn't said a good thing about anything in a very, very long time. I had become consumed with my own personal diatribe, and it had become my job to force others to listen to me whine about it. To hell with what they had to say or feel, my rant was all that was important, and I kept going every day.

Talk about a moment when you realize all at once you have lost some of your intellectual integrity.

Your concern for others.

Your humanity.

I was so caught up in my exaggerated drama - my diatribe - that I was becoming ignorant of the feelings of others. I was so full of myself I didn't care about the people I loved. I couldn't because anger and venom took over who I was, and my arrogance made my problems the center of everything.

It took a lot of thought to realize I had done this to myself. I had to learn to own my problems and not find every negative thing in the world to "witch" about.

Fast forward to now, and we are watching a world, a society falling into the dark side of a pandemic. All the bitterness frustration play out on social media as people who would never behave like this before rant furiously and demand their viewpoint is the only one; all others are wrong or stupid.

I never imagined anything like this happening during my lifetime.

According to the BOOK of PROVERBS: Pride cometh before the fall...

Social media is an absolutely terrible place these days, and if I didn't have to use it for work, I don't think I would even turn it on.

• While working, I see posts on the Facebook page complaining about my employer posting stories that are not FREE.

The Tuesday newspaper is sent out for FREE to Brazil zipcodes. Other areas are being considered for the future.

The Brazil Times has many FREE things to offer the community, especially online. You don't have to be a subscriber to read many things, including:

BREAKING NEWS STORIES

TOP STORY OF THE DAY

SPECIAL EDITIONS (flip through books previously published, like Senior Selections/TIMELESS)

KEEPSAKE EDITIONS featuring student achievements

TUESDAY FREE EDITION ONLINE

POSTERBOARD and advertisements

ADS

BLOGS

COVID-19 Data

TRAVEL ADVISORIES

HONOR ROLLS

PHOTO GALLERIES

LOCAL INFORMATION YOU NEED TO KNOW about food pantries, local events of interest, meetings, first responder information, and schools.

The staff recently put together a PUZZLE book.

And more new things are in the works as 2022 unfolds.

• BUT - there are always posts arguing about the cost of the newspaper is too much, and "who reads a newspaper anyway."

Honestly, that is all about what is important to a person and how they want to use their finances. If something has no perception of value, a person won't buy it. But, when it does have value, people need to realize there is a COST for everything.

• There are always posts about how somewhere else has more news or better stories.

For our area, there are a lot of news agencies reporting on events throughout the Wabash Valley. However, The Times has been reporting on the news and events in OUR COMMUNITY for more than 132 years.

The difference between a televised story with at most 60 seconds to two minutes spent on it and one written by a reporter can be 30 minutes to a couple of hours of in-depth work to make sure it is factual and interesting.

Many of these organizations have national advertisers that do not worry about costs.

ALSO, a reporter has to be paid for their time to do the interview and decipher their notes, write the story, take and process the pictures (and sometimes video), and write the information for each photo/video for the paper and the internet.

As I said, I am used to this.

But lately, many posts accusing the Times staff of being all about the "Godless pursuit of the all-mighty dollar" trigger that diatribe button in my soul.

NOTE: Can someone tell me just how a small-town newspaper will bring about Armageddon?

I want to rant about that one really bad at the computer screen and correct these statements. Not only for what feels like a personal attack on me but my fellow hard-working co-workers as well.

But I don't; I keep quiet because that is not who I want to be anymore.

These attacks are very disheartening to all of us.

Being told we should volunteer to do our work because it's not fair to post notifications of stories they can't read for FREE on Facebook is, well, ludicrous.

If you work someplace and I see an advertisement on Facebook about it: I can't demand you give it to me for FREE. If true, I can't imagine the chaos that would ensue.

Do you know what a free-rider problem is?

It is a burden created through the use or overuse by people who aren't paying their "fair share" or aren't paying anything at all.

Free rider problems can occur in any community, large or small.

Know what ultimately happens with a free-rider program?

People who attempt to mooch or demand the availability of a product or service for free without giving anything in return become FREELOADERS.

Without the support of people paying for a product or service, it will fail.

As sad as it sounds, as the rants on social media continue and they gain support, many things in our lives are falling apart from all the negativity.

Soon there won't be anything left to history, including small-town newspapers.

RANT OVER!!!