Wednesday, May 28, 2008

OSTRICH OR NOT?

Tonight there is a television show about conjoined twins, following the surgery necessary to separate them. Another show is about depression of all shapes and forms, but especially in teenagers. The Sunday section in the newspaper plastered a story about post-partum depression and how mothers can easily consider murdering their children (although that happens even withOUT post-partum depression, I know).

Am I wrong to put in the video of the A&E/BBC Pride and Prejudice and fast forward right to when Mr. Darcy dives into the lake?

Bad things happen, I know - am I an ostrich to not want to know/view/experience them? If I could do something to change reality, then yes - but my awareness of things beyond my realm of control only serves to frustrate and discourage me.

I think I know enough about depression, with two family members in the clinically depressed category,- I don't know anyone who has conjoined twins at the moment, and my chances of getting to know anyone with conjoined twins in the near future is pretty limited - and thank God in heaven I did NOT have any post-partum depression (just the normal post-partum exhaustion that anyone with a newborn goes through).

Do I need to watch and agonize with people having to deal with these problems? I think I have an interesting enough drama and life around me to not feel the need to entrench myself in someone else's misery.


Any comments?

2 comments:

Jen said...

I have a policy lately of only watching movies with happy endings, which my husband thinks is wierd, but something I need to do. Why watch depressing stuff on purpose? I can't do it. The news is disturbing enough. Heck, real LIFE can be frightening (I experienced some fantastic crack whores last weekend. I'm sure they'll make great mothers) I don't think it's so much being as ostrich as a form of self-preservation. If we let ourselves think about all the tragedy & pain other people experience, I think we'd go super insane.
I totally agree with the Pride & Prejudice therapy. No matter how many times I watch it, it still gets me all choked up. Also good- Anne of Green Gables, works every time. And there's a scene in A Room with A View that literally makes me stop breathing. I like my fictional happy places.

Hope said...

I am happy someone else agrees with my P&P therapy. I am also an advocate of bubble-wrap therapy (really, if you're mad, just sit and pop bubbles for five minutes - mellow HAS to emerge), being body-wrapped in your favorite type of pizza (much like Kate's immersion in enchilada sauce) and repeatedly watching the parade scene in Ferris Buller's Day Off ("Twist and Shout" forever!).