This post was written by Jon Swanson, PhD, chaplain, Parkview Health.
Sometimes we see people we know on the local news. Our child might be on a team that plays the game of the week. Our neighbor might be interviewed about a project they are developing. A patient we saw might have been in the accident that happened overnight. We feel connected to the local news. Sometimes we even feel connected by the local news.
On the other hand, we’re always complaining about the media and the algorithms and the bias in the news and in our social media feed. I mean, some people are complaining. You and I aren’t. We are simply making observations.
We seldom remember that we can write the media that people consume. We can tell the stories about the game of the week or our neighbor’s project.
I don’t mean that everyone should start a network or create a newsletter or write editorial letters to The New York Times. And I really don’t mean that we should be commenting on everything someone else is saying online.
I do mean, however, that we can offer tiny bits of content to meet the need for news or commentary or entertainment for our friends and for ourselves.
This is particularly true when we are finding words in hard times.
As we end a tough year and look forward to the new year, consider practical ways to offer meaningful content to people you know.
- Send an email to a friend asking if you can get together soon. This starts the planning process and the hoping process and the “something to look forward to” process. And it could be in person or on video chat.
- Write a note to a friend whose mom died earlier this year, acknowledging that you haven’t forgotten them and that you know this may be a tough season coming up. Because, of course, you have forgotten about them (a little) and sending a note will help you remember to talk to them during the next few weeks.
- Write a prayer about your confusion and frustration and sadness. It’s okay to write a prayer that starts, “God, I know that I’m not supposed to feel this way, but I’m really upset with what’s happened.” God’s less concern with how we think we’re supposed to feel, and more interested in how we do feel. And talking with us about that. And God’s willing to read what we write in a journal or on a scrap of paper.
- Send a text to a friend sharing your Wordle score or silly update. Particularly if you have been doing this every day for years and even if their spouse died suddenly a month ago. Grieving people want to hear from us and sometimes about normal things.
- Write a note in your calendar app to text a friend next Tuesday.
- Write an email or a text or a note on paper thanking someone for an action that made a difference in someone’s life during the last week. It could be thanking a coworker for noticing a client. It could be thanking a server for a great recommendation. It could be thanking a friend for existing. It could be thanking yourself for fixing dinner.
- Record a video on your phone in front of your overseas or college child’s favorite restaurant and say, “Every time I drive by, I think about you.” And then send it. You can do this for a friend, too.
- Write a post-Christmas letter (or email) to five friends that tells each of them a particular way they are awesome. Or tells the others awesome events that are yet unknown. The kind of good news reporting that we see on the local news.
We can fret about the news. Or we can send our news to the people we care about. It takes the same amount of time. But it can change their life. And ours.
