Over the past couple of weeks, I've come to an interesting conclusion, one that I probably should have come to grips with a lot earlier than now; I don't like getting upset.

Yes, I know, neither does anyone else. However, what I came to realize is that I allow myself more opportunities for getting upset than I need to. Once again, everyone else probably does as well.

I'm kind of a news junkie. I like to know what's going on in the world because, in my mind, much of this stuff has the potential to touch my life in some fashion. But the news is never the bastion of positive things; if it were, it would be Reader's Digest.

I recognize there are some news stories we just have to deal with. A natural disaster that affects a lot of people immediately is major news. Something our government is doing that will affect a majority of people is major news. Something that happens to a major celebrity, while not necessarily always major news, is news just the same.

About a month ago or so I printed out an expose of the relationship between John and Elizabeth Edwards, just a day or two before she filed for divorce. It ended up being 17 pages; I read the first page then decided I wasn't up to reading the rest of it. Around that same time, I started listening to a book on tape (I guess they're now supposed to be called "recorded books", since it was on CD), a Tim Green book called Exact Revenge, and early on I pretty much knew where the book was going to go, and it was the kind of ugliness that makes me want to go out and try to protect the world by beating people up. I've never gone out to beat people up, it's just the feeling one gets.

I've decided that it's time to start weaning myself away from much of the ugliness that pervades our lives. I'm certainly not going to be able to keep away from all of it, but I'm going to diminish it. I threw away the printed out news report. I decided not to continue listening to that book, though I love Tim Green books. I've decided that I'm going to try not to read any of the hateful stuff people say about President Obama, although if it shows up in a news story there's no getting around that.

I'm going to try not to read any more stories about child molesters or parents who've done bad things to their children. I'm going to try not to read any more comments on news sites that have decided letting "regular" people comment on new stories is a good thing because I see more hate coming from those comments than I ever thought was possible.

I'm not going to succeed, however. There's no way to succeed in today's world, with all the information that's available and all the places it can come from. But I'm going to try. We all need some peace in our lives, probably more than we get. How will you decide to bring peace into your life today? Are we worthy? At least Nick thinks we are; what say you?