When you don't

A cat, happily asleep.

When you don't believe in any god, when you don't believe the government (or even in the government), when you don't believe the media. For a start it all sounds terribly negative, all this serial non-believing. Perhaps it's harder to believe than not to, perhaps it's also a bit foolish to believe. We all need something, believing in yourself might be a good start, if tricky at times. We're now in one of four camps, infected and ill, carrying and dangerous, been through it (but maybe not sure) and finally awaiting the hammer blow of a cough and a sweat that signals the arrival of the pestilence. There's also a fifth category but they are sadly not with us anymore. So we're hungry for advice and information. It's there but it's sullied by incapable people trying to explain their way out of things they can't grasp while more open minded scientist types move the goal posts as experiences are understood.

The Covid 19 problem has obviously brought these issues into sharper focus. so many versions of the truth circulating, point scoring, air brushing facts, avoidance of responsibility and my own personal favourite; telling yourself stories. My only solution, and it's not a very good one nor is it comprehensive has been to shut down a lot of my normal information gathering sources. Local radio, BBC anything, reading newspapers diligently, digging into twitter or blogs. I'm still doing bits of these but radio has gone and TV is very limited. I'm feeling better as a result, strangely less isolated and also less bombarded with "stories". That's not to say that the human experiences being shared are not important or moving or worthwhile, it's the context they now sit in and the way they are included with bigger "lines to take" strategies that dilutes their significance. So I'm watching and waiting like everyone else but I'm narrowing my field of vision. At least that's the story I'm telling myself.