TO THE MOON, ALICE. TO THE MOON. Pts. 1-3

I plead guilty to spending far too much time on the internet, and social media on a daily basis; (Facebook, in particular). I admit it. Throughout the day and night, I might easily check my Facebook account 20-25x. And as I reflect on the previous line, guilt almost overwhelms me. I am ashamed. I mean, there are more worthwhile activities in which a 68 year old man might be engaged. And yet, as the result of the time I have invested in social media, I have experienced literally hundreds of opportunities to intervene in lives, encourage the hurting, provide guidance, and pass on a myriad of resource materials.

However, my focus here is not the host of positive interactions I have experienced over the years, nor the wealth of resources I have provided to deserving people. But rather, my concern tonight are the images on my social media homepage, (as well as those which appear on television) that kick me in the proverbial gut, and which virtually devour my psyche for hours to come.

I mean, I will be scrolling down my Facebook homepage and suddenly, and without warning, I come face to face with a photograph of a bulldog, (or what is left of him). We’re talking about a pitiful creature which has been terribly mauled in dogfight. I will spare you the details, but trust me, it ain’t pretty. Of course, the typical reason the picture has been posted in the first place is all about the cause to levy tougher penalties on this kind of activity.

And more times than I can enumerate, I have chanced upon the photographic carnage of a dismembered human fetus; the genesis thereof more often embarrassment or convenience, than for the oft touted reasons of rape, deformity or ‘the life of the mother.’

Pt. 2

However, what ‘got me on this trip’ tonight was something I ran across as I ‘channel surfed’ through six or eight of my favorite television channels. Landing on the Smithsonian Channel, I immediately heard the most horrendous bellowing, and an extreme closeup of something very large and very gray.

And at this juncture, the narrator casually muses,

“The lions have not been able to kill the elephant… so they begin to eat it alive.”

Uhhhh! Needless to say, I divert my eyes, and touch another button, any button, on the remote, and the audio and video of the gruesome spectacle quickly dematerializes from the screen; (in favor of a ‘talking head’ rattling on about the current occupant of the White House, or an aerial shot of the Cliffs of Dover).

When I was eight or ten I used to watch “The Jackie Gleason Show;” (in vivid black & white, and still available on Youtube). And, without fail, Gleason and his supporting cast members did a weekly segment titled, “The Honeymooner’s.”

In this wonderful example of classic TV, the rather rotund host of the show portrayed a ‘hard on his luck’ bus driver named Ralph Kramden who was always ‘getting into it” with his wife. And time and time again, when ‘Alice’ (Audrey Meadows) said or did something he didn’t like, old Ralph would, with all the accompanying theatrics, (including pumping his fist into his hand) exclaim, “To the moon, Alice.” (The notion that, if he could, he would gladly provide her a one way journey to the moon).

However, please allow me the latitude to return to this theme shortly.

Pt. 3

Dear readers, you might have surmised by now that I detest those unexpected photographs and videos, (which so often appear on social media and television) of suffering involving animals and humankind, alike.

I realize that on the one hand someone, somewhere is involved in what I consider the worthy causes of outlawing the majority of abortions, or enacting more severe penalties for dog fighting. Or on the other hand, the gruesome photographs or videos portrayed on social media or television may be simply informative or ‘entertaining’ in nature.

But to ‘get down to brass tacks,’ my friend, there are any number of people among us, (including yours truly) with whom I have spoken, or written who experience a great deal of psychological pain, as the result of having been exposed to such photographs and video segments, and who continue to struggle for an hour or a day with the invisible imprint which these images have on their sensibilities.

Even as I write these words I am reminded again of that visual and accompanying audio related to the elephant being eaten alive by several hungry lions. I mean, how utterly gruesome is that? (Yes, I know it happens, and lions have to eat, but they can do it without me).

And, as you might well imagine, while I enjoy a ‘Big Mac’ as much as anybody else, I could never work in a slaughterhouse, and I have never killed a deer or a wild hog; (and never hope to do so).

To be sure, I have no idea why I have chosen to ‘put pen to paper’ tonight. Perhaps I just need to ‘get it off my chest.’ Perhaps by doing so, I have been given the rare opportunity to inform one or more folks who mean well, but who ‘share’ such photographs and videos, that there are those among us who experience some pretty horrendous, and lingering emotions after having viewed such stuff.

And when it comes to this issue, and very much like old Ralph Kramden, I can only say,

“To the moon, Alice. To the moon.”


(Mc)Donald's Daily Diary. Vol. 64. By William McDonald, PhD. Copyright pending.

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