Boisterous

 

photo credit - bohemianbikini via pixabay

While covering a scary flood incident for the local newspaper I met the classic boisterous woman. As I read Proverbs 9 today, I was reminded of her.

I was walking away from the new bridge where I had just finished speaking with the emergency crews who were concerned for its strength. At that moment they were hoping the state crew had done their work. When I asked them if they thought it would hold, they each said the same thing: “We’ll see.”

These were small-town, honest, hard-working folks who were doing their job. They had been up since the night before preparing. I respected them. None of them were up to speaking with the press or “making a statement” and it was evident they were being harassed by them. The three major stations from Columbus were there and the last person anyone wanted to talk to … was another reporter.

As I walked away from the scene, camera full of photos for the next day’s paper, a lady yelled at me. She was sitting in a tall, white news van with her legs sticking out, obviously uncomfortable with the rain and the simple people.

“Hey!” she yelled at me. “Hey! What did they say!”

I guess she had watched me watching the rising river with the emergency crew members and assumed they had said something.

“Hey! I asked you a question!”

Besides being rude, she was a little scary. Her perfect short, blonde hair and her stilettos and microphone were out of place.

I knew what a big city news person could do, and I avoided her as if she were an angry pit bull barking on a chain.

The irony of the situation rocked me to the core. I needed information for the community’s news source. The community needed to be left alone in its independence to do its job of protection and service. I felt a small part of that responsibility.

I wanted to tell the story of how groups and individuals did their job. But this woman was looking for splash and failure, calamity and tragedy … something to give all those people who would watch her that evening, believing every word she said.

As I walked up the hill to our newspaper’s offices, I said a prayer that our town would be spared embarrassment.

Later I found out that the news crews had practiced harassment all day and at noon went live with lies about how many buildings were “swept away” and how many people were “injured” and the “estimated damage.” On top of that, they said all the dogs in the shelter had “perished,” when in fact all the dogs in the shelter had been moved to high ground the day before.

 

The news media has become a writer of fiction, saying, “Hey! I’m here! I got a story! Pay attention to me!”

Sometimes I wonder what would happen to them if we took the advice of Proverbs 9 and just walked away, paying no attention to the boisterous woman who shares stolen facts and feeds secret morsels to the viewer, smiling and laughing in her attempt to make us feel better about ourselves.

 

“The woman of folly is boisterous,

She is naïve and knows nothing.

She sits at the doorway of her house,

On a seat by the high places of the city,

Calling to those who pass by,

Who are making their paths straight:

“Whoever is naïve, let him turn in here,”

And to him who lacks understanding she says,

“Stolen water is sweet;

And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

But he does not know that the dead are there,

That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

-          Proverbs 9:13-18 NASB

https://fiveminutefriday.com/2021/05/27/fmf-writing-prompt-link-up-recover/