I recently came across this excerpt from a letter C.S. Lewis wrote to a friend. He wrote it in 1946, before the internet was invented, before the dawn of push notifications and instant news updates without pause every moment of every day, and yet the wisdom in these few sentences only grows more important the more our technologies and access to information increases. We’ve reached the stage now where we can hear of every new battle, every devastating famine, every natural disaster and celebrity scandal on the other side of the globe more quickly and easily than we can hear what is happening with our own neighbours in our own community. Here’s what C.S. Lewis said about it:
“It is one of the evils of rapid diffusion of news that the sorrows of all the world come to us every morning. I think each village was meant to feel pity for its own sick and poor whom it can help and I doubt if it is the duty of any private person to fix his mind on ills which he cannot help. (This may even become an escape from the works of charity we really can do to those we know.)
A great many people (not you) do now seem to think that the mere state of being worried is in itself meritorious. I don’t think it is. We must, if it so happens, give our lives for others: but even while we’re doing it, I think we’re meant to enjoy Our Lord and, in Him, our friends, our food, our sleep, our jokes, and the birds’ song, and the frosty sunrise.
About the distant, so about the future. It is very dark: but there’s usually light enough for the next step or so. Pray for me always.”
— C.S. Lewis in “Letter to Bede Griffiths” dated 20 December 1946.
Have you found anything that helps you stay grounded in our world of non-stop newsfeeds? Anything that helps you stay focused on the good you can do where you are? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
sethlewis.ie 
Here are a few choices I make to avoid the 24 hour instant access news feeds.
My search engine is set to incognito to avoid pop up stories.
On social media I follow nonprofits focused on addressing problems and helping to make things better.
Rarely do I watch any commercialized newscast.
To stay grounded to the needs around me, I connect with local churches and other nonprofits through my job as a Church Engagement person with a statewide ministry helping children and families in crisis.
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Fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing this, Kelly
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Thank you so much for this wisdom and encouragement! It is so true that we erroneously equate worry with righteousness. Two biblical truths come to mind. The first one is in the book of James, where he tells us not to tell a man, “go in peace, be warm and filled”, but that instead, we should do the things necessary to help him. I am constantly guilty of preferring to sit on the sofa, ‘worrying’ about things across the world I can’t do, instead of getting up and helping the elderly neighbor next-door with her yardwork or groceries. Forgive me, Lord, for my lack of love, and my laziness/self indulgence.
The second thing that comes to mind is the fact that in Holy scripture God refers to those we should help as our neighbor, not as “fellow men” or those in far off lands . There’s obviously a reason God uses this specific term! Looking at the etymology of the word neighbor, it means someone near or who dwells nearby! That’s very interesting.
I thank you for this timely and VERY spiritually helpful post!
God bless you sir!
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Thank you for your thoughts! I agree, we start where we are – the closer you are to a light, the brighter it shines, and that should be true of us as well
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