TV NEWS IS KILLING ME.

Stay warm everyone.  We don't want anyone to crystallize their cholesterol.

I got hooked on TV news programs back in 1967 when Walter Cronkite broadcast the 6 Day War between Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria.  Walter was on TV the whole day giving updates on each battle, where the battle lines were at that precise moment, and what the American generals thought were each of the countries strategies.  I was living in the graduate dormitory at Michigan State University at the time.  There were students from every country in the world living there too; except for communist China which was a closed country until President Nixon visited in 1972.


After watching TV, I could go down to the dormitory cafeteria and listen to the Arab students argue with the American Jewish students about the long history of Arab/Israeli  conflict.  Our Israeli students had left for home before we even knew there was going to be trouble. For this Midwestern girl, who had never been out of the country, listening to this history, being argued from both sides, was better than any history course I could have taken.  I remember talking to one of our Arab students and asking him how he was dealing with the losing aspect of the war.  He looked at me and said, "We are not losing.  That is just American/Israeli propaganda you are seeing on TV."  Being a child brought up in the 1950's, I was very naive and thought Americans would never have propaganda on our TV."


So my enjoyment of TV news goes way back.  However, now it is killing me.  I have been watching the situation as it develops in Egypt and our local Blizzard of 2011; but, I have also seen Dr. Oz and our local health authority giving health updates. From Dr. Oz, I have learned that my craving for sugar means my liver is getting fatty and I should spend a week eating broccoli, cauliflower, and onions.  Then I listened to a local authority telling me that going out in the cold drops our core temperature.  Just 2 degrees lowering of the core temperature causes cholesterol to crystallize, break off artery walls, and cause heart attacks.


As much as I like broccoli and cauliflower I know I will not spend a week just eating those vegetables.  I can't stay inside.  There is still basically 2 months until spring.  So while my liver fattens up and my cholesterol crystallizes, I guess I will just pick out the hymns for my funeral service.  Or maybe, I should turn off the TV.