It has been several years since this nation suffered one of its greatest losses in the death of CBS News Anchorman Charles Kuralt. During, and especially after his anchoring of the weekly “Sunday Morning” show, Charles Kuralt spent much of his life “On The Road” chronicling stories of ordinary people (as he was) doing extraordinary things (as he did). Even those doing ordinary things were special in his sight as he drew the nation together in love and mutual respect for our differences. It was the one weekly TV show that those other than Caucasians never had to worry about watching defensively. Not so with his successor, Charles Osgood. Ironically the first name is the same and most disturbing the format remains the same with some of the same “Sunday Morning” cast, creating the delusion that the show is still the same. Far from it.
Mr. Osgood is an extremely gifted individual of many talents, among which chicanery reigns supreme. As through the post-Charles Kuralt years, no one seems to notice or even care that the entire mood swing has subliminally shifted to the old “white supremacy” mentality with other nationalities occasionally showcased disproportionately or as subcultures. Even more disturbing is that it probably is not even intentional. But the damage could not be more widespread.
What is predominantly spoon-fed on prime-time TV today is your stereotypical racial and cultural sitcoms with ridiculous or even lovable buffoons. This steady diet of disrespect for others has a ripple effect that takes its toll, especially on the young. As innocent as it may appear from the opposite side of the TV cameras, take a look at the world outside when you emerge from your studios. It’s all part of the equation.
Today’s high-tech media serves as the circulatory system of society. Pump poison through those veins and arteries and you reap a sick society. We each have a unique role to play in providing healing to a morally sick, and strength to a spiritually weak society through the dynamic force of example.
In the infancy of mankind, physical family ties were strong. But with mankind’s maturation, the advancement of science and technology, and the increase in knowledge and wealth, these extended family ties have become the source of division and rivalry over jurisdictional boundaries. Therefore, “As deep as family ties are we must always remember that spiritual ties are far deeper; they are everlasting and survive death whereas physical ties, unless supported by spiritual bonds, are confined to this life,” we are reminded in the Baha’i Holy Writings.
With spiritual and technological maturity comes the awareness that “The earth is but one country and all mankind its citizens. We’re all members of one race–the human race, and of one family–the family of man. Only then can we realize:
“So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth!”
