Parachute Club, pt. 2

So what is to be done?

Here's something to try, which has worked for me of late. We're bombarded by news reports every day, in print, online, radio, podcast, tv, whatever. The next time you see/hear/read a news report that bothers you (any little thing, any little bother) - STOP.

Halt what you're doing. Stop. Just like that. Preserve a little bubble of physical stillness. And then freeze that news report in your mind. Turn it like a stone with big slimy bugs underneath. Mull over, consider, chew on why that news report made you react. Maybe it wasn't an intellectual reaction. Perhaps it was entirely visceral. And then, within that span of inactivity you've created for yourself (and here is the part that takes some effort), rather than panicking or giving up or pleading ignorance, consider some constructive way that you could affect the source of your anxiety (any thing, any little thing). Tell yourself that this action will help make that slightly unhappy feeling go away - because it will.

You don't necessarily have to take action immediately. But think about it. And the next time you encounter that particular qualm, remember your previous reaction. Remind yourself that a single letter or email written to a government or organisation is treated as possessing the moral and intellectual weight of a hundred people behind it. And then remember the next time too.

Aristotle wrote about habituation as the key to a moral life. Because when you start to consider something of importance over and over again, it burrows in to your mind and wriggles. Admittedly, there are myriad distractions these days to push the worms of conscience away. But there's often one that perseveres. So stop, think, think again.

And if you're a student, try to calculate just how much more money you're paying towards tuition today over the students of five or six years ago. It would probably be enough to go skydiving. And at least then you'd notice when you hit the ground.