PBS is the epitome of fine television. As I write, there is a documentary on the structural system of the World Trade Center and how exactly the skyscrapers folded when the planes hit. I took a few double takes walking down my hallway driven to write. I am engrossed with the portrayal, I am listening to it even as I write. Forgive me, I must retreat back to the television to ..
I'm back and the program is over. I feel warm and thoughtful. Public broadcasting has a mission of education and assists in the formation of strategic thinking.
meanwhile…
A frown rests on my becoming jowls. A fuzzy blank feeling encompasses brain waves and not because my sweatshirt is turned inside out. Nor for the Ale I threw down the gullet this night. I am changed, reminded. Now I remember the day, the phone was ringing off the hook that morning. I watched the towers collapse on the carpeted apartment floor of a friend while his 16 month old son ran in circles and patted our heads and bellies.
Surprisingly, I am not angry, merely a dismantled sort. My soul hiccups grief still. In these brief moments of scattered rubble, I am the same as evidence the engineer examines in a PBS documentary. A pain we should not examine for the need is nill when we feel it so.
I embrace a heavy sigh and mantra Life is too short. Letting my lids drop I try NOT to imagine the elephant. This is an impossible task I have absorbed like a sponge. Being just one isn't easy when you start from scratch. A step at a time will get you where you're going.
I credit PBS for inspiring these thoughts of wonder. I praise it for providing insight and faith through the years. I am thankful for the potential a public station represents. The media is able to channel perspective we can identify. Our wired world bombards our senses with talk shows and twisted news. Public Radio, television; these are the last means of statistically unbridled idea. Without participating with them, I am boring.
I have learned about Antiques, Home repair, cooking, countless geographical areas and their flora and fauna. PBS taught me that everyone was equal and that I could be anything I wanted. Producers of these shows are altruistic angels for shedding network cash for grassroots experience. The creators of the Nova programs often spend years in the bush documenting the lives of animals. Going to far off places with pieces of our lives. They channel adventure.
I am still blinking hard, even crunching my eyes up with fatigue. The message hits like an overhand in tennis. I am dazed while I connect the dots back through my education. I have assimilated information into the database of my being and remain amazed by the influence a television channel has created.