Blog 2511 – 09.10.2022
Content And Context
It might seem to some to be tilting at windmills this my daily attempt to publish a few encouraging words amid a flood of competing conspiracy theories and calls to war, but it is my self assigned mission if I can to provide content and context in an encouraging way.
When I was a boy we had three television networks that gave us our news, sports, and entertainment from early morning till late at night and my dear departed dad was forever amazed at how little in all of that he deemed worth watching. Today we are bombarded with choices of what to watch, but alas finding something in all that myriad of offerings worthwhile to watch is still a chore. It is the same with books and blogs.
If you only want to see or read what you already have seen and read, that is available twenty-four seven with a multitude of streaming platforms making those old shows available again with or without commercial interruptions. I am four seasons into the old Perry Mason show with Raymond Burr. It was one of my dad’s favorite programs and watching it is like reliving evenings with my dad in the late fifties and early sixties. Much of the shows content and context was lost on me as a young boy back then and I could not understand why my dad liked the show so much. I understand better now how entertaining it was for him watching Perry prove time and time again that his clients were not guilty of what seemed to be a clear cut case against them.
Too often we, like District Attorney Hamilton Burger and police detective Lieutenant Tragg, think the evidence clearly indicates the guilt of someone when a closer examination of the content and context of the case proves us wrong. Sadly most defendants never had a Perry Mason for a lawyer and all too many were wrongly convicted of crimes they did not commit. That reminds me of another TV show that my dad liked, The Fugitive starring David Jansen as Doctor Richard Kimball, “Falsely convicted for the murder of his wife, reprieved by fate when a train wreck freed him in route to the death house, freed him to live a live of lonely desperation, searching for the one-armed man, he saw leaving the scene of the crime.” That quote was from William Conrad’s wonderful introduction to every episode.
Our rush to judgement is too often flawed. Having our hearts and mind closed, and as well our ears and eyes to all the evidence is a sure fire way to insure false convictions. And it is also a good way to miss a real gem or a hundred of the many offers available to us in books, movies, plays, TV programming, music, and yes even blogs.
If you happen to find any content or context here worth your while do tell a friend. I am always looking for something encouraging to share and readers to share it with.
Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White
Like A Mockingbird
theencouragingword 