Watching my granddaughters twirl with the late afternoon sunlight yesterday, I momentarily forgot what I was going to write about for this news cycle.
They were performing a sort of improv combination of gymnastics and ballet and I was their primary audience.
They also were doing it without a care in the world, not about the Ukraine war, or Trump or the Middle East or climate change or the crisis at the border. They don’t know about any of that stuff yet, nor should they.
Now is their time to dance in the sunlight. There will be plenty of time to confront the abundant darkness around them in the future.
I harbor thoughts like these all the time, but usually in the context of the rest of us who do not qualify as naive kids but as battle-hardened adults. We need to dance in the sunlight too at times. I think especially of my peers in the news business trying to find new angles on the stories they report, write informative yet catchy headlines, and promote their work on social media.
Sometimes they should take a break and just dance, twirling around the room like my granddaughters. But if we’re not careful, life has a way of emptying the music out of us over time to the point we no longer remember how to jump, twirl, stretch or skip. Our movements through time and space become stiff and labored and we just watch the young enjoy life.
One way or another so much gets lost in the process. We stop taking risks in life and in love, trying to avoid the pain — but then nearing the end, as we look back on it all, we remember bit by bit what it was like before we got beaten down.
As the country songwriter says, “I could have missed the pain…but I’d have had to miss the dance.”
P.S. Don’t miss the dance.
(An earlier version of this one appeared two years ago in 2022.)
HEADLINES:
Israel-Gaza war: Hamas responds to ceasefire offer with 135-day truce plan (BBC)
Western coverage of Gaza: A textbook case of coloniser’s journalism (Al Jazeera)
Hamas Says No Deal on Hostages (WSJ)
Kataib Hezbollah commander killed in Baghdad in US strike (Reuters)
U.S. strike kills militia leader in Baghdad, officials say. (WP)
Amnesty International accuses Israeli forces of killing Palestinians in the West Bank with impunity. (NYT)
Republicans thought they had votes to impeach Mayorkas, until they didn’t. Then the shouting began. (WP)
How a botched impeachment laid bare a GOP House that cannot function (CNN)
The Ghost of Bush v. Gore Haunts the Supreme Court’s Colorado Case (New Yorker)
Trump's ballot eligibility is headed to the Supreme Court. Here's what to know about Thursday's historic arguments. (CBS)
In Trump’s Colorado case, Supreme Court will make and face history (WP)
In Poland, I Saw What a Second Trump Term Could Do to America (NYT)
Chinese hackers have lurked in some US infrastructure systems for ‘at least five years’ (CNN)
NASA lays off 530 workers at Jet Propulsion Lab, endangering future space missions (Salon)
A new bill introduced by two Republicans in the Oklahoma Legislature would effectively ban state agencies from acknowledging or celebrating Pride Month, adding to the slew of anti-LGBTQ legislation introduced both statewide and across the country. [HuffPost]
European Union scraps pesticide proposal in another concession to protesting farmers (NPR)
Two blasts near electoral candidates' offices in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan killed 26 people, raising concerns over security in the lead up to Thursday's polls. Pakistan goes to the polls amid rising militant attacks and the jailing of Imran Khan, the winner of the last national election. (Reuters)
"Bookfind of the century" sells for $2.23 million (New Atlas)
The New York Times made more than $1 billion from digital subscriptions in 2023 (Nieman)
Before Taylor and Travis, there was Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio (WP)
Autonomous robots are cutting grass in this Southern California town (KTLA)
Hong Kong Students Construct World's Tiniest Walking Robot (NDTV)
Shadow AI in the ‘dark corners’ of work is becoming a big problem for companies (CNBC)
A chatbot helped more people access mental-health services (Technology Review)
Department Of Transportation Recommends Cranking Up Thin Lizzy’s ‘Jailbreak’ While Driving High (The Onion)
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