Rutt Row

Back in October of 2008 I was sitting in a market in Bend having a meal and thoroughly enjoying watching Scooby-Doo on the tv. Everything was going great... until some putz asked if he could change the channel. What was I going to say? So he picked up the remote, switched on CNN and to my horror the stock market was in a free fall and had already dropped over 800 points.  I looked around and the place had come to a complete stop.  About 25 adults were clutching their fresh baguettes and starring in horror at the carnage on the screen. At that moment I decided not to watch, read, surf or ask anyone about the news. I was going cold turkey. Granted, the first few weeks were tough and I had the shakes  but with the love and support of my family I was able to make it through to the other side. These days I'm feeling happier, calmer, smarter and better than I have in years and I believe a lot of that has to do with not being buffeted by the endless stream of news that is force fed down our throats on a daily basis. I can't even say that I feel less well-informed. But I am left wondering whether any of these horrible economic events would have happened if we had just left Scooby- Do0 on.