At a forum site I visit there was mention about some incident in Texas - the thread didn't give details because apparently they're pretty bad. I'm glad because I can't deal with graphic things. This made me remember something that happened a couple weeks ago.

A little history first though - I don't watch the news, I don't want to hear about gory things, I want to live in my little world with my rose colored glasses firmly strapped to my head. It's just that stuff like that really gets into my head and it won't go away.

So a couple weeks ago, my mother-in-law is sitting in MY living room talking to my sil and I. She starts talking about all the beheadings and stuff. I say once "I don't want to hear this"...she keeps going....I say in a more exasperated tone "Ellen, I don't want to hear this kind of stuff, it bothers me"...SHE KEEPS GOING! She doesn't stop even when I've got my fingers in my ears saying DADADADADADA. She finishes her story then has the unmitigated gall to say that *I* need to get over it, that I have to hear about things like that.

Why are so many people like that? They seem to have this uncontrollable urge to talk about horrific things. They actually watch them on TV. I mean, I can't even watch CSI because I think the violence is just too much for the soul. I don't know about other people, but to me just the knowledge of such things eats at me and comes to the surface late at night. I feel the urge to dry clean my brain just to rid myself of the images. For example, several years ago I made the mistake of reading an excerpt from a book written by a serial killer. It was quite graphic and has disturbed me ever since. I was going to say I've finally gotten past it, but just thinking about it brought the image to mind again.

I don't think these things are good for our spirits. From graphic television shows to news reports and even video games. I'm pretty discriminating when it comes to things I let the kids watch, and that even applies to cartoons. I know if I don't want to see it, if it bothers me on any level, then a child surely shouldn't be watching it. I wouldn't even read the Spiderwick Chronicles aloud to them, or the Lemony Snicket books.

A part of me wonders, though, if I'm applying my own issues to them. Perhaps they could handle these things better than I'm giving them credit for. Sure I'm not going to be letting them play Vice City or watch CSI...but that perhaps things like the books mentioned above could be okay. I do know that my kids are pretty sensitive though...especially Maddie. Gage could probably handle it, Maddie on the other hand would have issues. She's much like me.

I guess I just feel saddened that the world is getting to a place where people aren't outraged by TV outlets showing beheadings, where people want to discuss ad nauseum all the gory news stories of the day. We are, as a whole, becoming more desensitized and I don't think this is a move in the right direction, or the "real world" as my mother-in-law likes to say. It may be happening out there, but I don't need to know about it. I don't need every tiny detail to know there is bad in the world. I'd rather focus in the other direction.