David McElroy

There are times when I love this life so much that I can barely stand it.

When I see this world — and the life I live within it — in the context of nature and its reality, my heart has trouble expressing its joy. But when I see my life through the lens of my ego and my greed and my lust for more material things, I am miserable — no matter how much I have.

After another long night of struggling to create things that matter to me, I found myself driving to get breakfast biscuits at 5 a.m. Thursday. I knew I should be in bed, but I was so excited about what I was feeling that I didn’t want to go to sleep.

As I drove the five minutes to the restaurant, I felt relaxed and joyful and happy. My heart was full and I loved life. I prayed a prayer as I drove, thanking God for what I was feeling.

I realized — not for the first time — that one of the keys to being happy in life is learning to be satisfied with what you already have. I’m miserable when I constantly believe that I need something material added to my life.

I realized that I felt joyful because I have complete faith in the truth and beauty of nature. I felt grateful for these gifts that had been given to me. And I felt joyful to realize that loving connection with others was still possible — and that this was completely within my grasp.

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An alien landed near me over the weekend. He came out of his flying saucer and had a friendly conversation with me. Since the Weekly World News isn’t printed anymore, I’ll share this momentous news with you on social media.

See the picture? That’s proof enough for anyone — especially if you want to believe.

Unless you’re a very naive small child or have some serious brain damage, you know that I’m not telling the truth. You know it’s a joke or an April Fool’s gag. Or maybe it’s satire. You know that because you apply critical thinking skills. You ask yourself whether it’s more likely this is true or not.

But even though almost everyone would know this claim isn’t true, it’s also true that many people — maybe most people — uncritically accept equally bogus claims on social media.

It happens every single day. And if the idiotic social media post is making a point that supports whatever you already believe, many people — maybe even you — will eagerly share that nonsensical post.

Even if you have the best of intentions, sharing such nonsense — without reasonable and rational evidence — makes you part of someone else’s monumental lie. And the lies are getting bigger and bigger, to the point that scanning a social media feed is now a bit like reading the headlines on the covers of the dumbest old supermarket tabloids.

Are you doing that?

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There was nothing particularly wrong with the place.

The lights were bright. The music consisted of old hits from the time when Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan were president. The decor was brightly colored plastic. There were people everywhere, including a table of teen girls making TikTok videos.

There was nothing offensive about any of it, but it was bland and boring and distracting. You could have been anywhere in the country. I tried to write. I tried to read.

And yet, after a while, I felt a quiet urge to leave.

I stepped outside into the warm evening breeze and stood still. As the door slowly closed behind me, the drop in noise was almost physical. The air felt different. The world slowed down just enough for me to notice it again.

And in that moment, I realized — once again — something I’ve observed more and more over the last decade or so. There’s nothing wrong with most of what our culture produces. Not really.

It’s not evil. It’s not low-quality. In many cases, it’s the opposite. It’s engaging and creative and well-made. It’s designed by people who know exactly how to capture your attention and hold it.

That’s not the problem. The problem is that there’s too much of it.

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