When I was a teenager I would come home from school for lunch and my father and I would eat and watch soap operas together. There were 2 and they were 15 minutes each. My dad made fun of most everything and this was perfect ground for some lunchtime laughs. We enjoyed the over the top drama but especially appreciated when a new face would appear and we wouldn’t know who they were until someone called their name. Sometimes my father would be away on business for a couple of weeks. When he returned he’d ask me to fill him in on the latest soaps at dinner. This would aggravate my mother to no end because we talked about the characters as if they were old friends. He’d ask questions like “how’s Sam, is he out of the hospital yet?”
While the episodes continued day after day with all manner of drama it didn’t take long for me to give my report because not much really happened. There were hushed phone calls and secret meetings, accusations and gossip shared but the plot didn’t really move very far forward.
Why am I telling you this story? Though my father is gone and I don’t even own a TV I’m getting a soap opera deja vu vibe from the current Canadian election. Every day one politician says this and another one does that and then the media says something else. And like the soaps the plot doesn’t advance much each day.
At this point we’re only one week into a 36 day campaign but I can’t count the scandals and lies and promises I’ve heard. The names that have been called, the conflicts of interest uncovered, the fingers pointed. Everyday there are new polls reported and dissected. Adverts hit the air, podcasters pour over speeches and make predictions and the mainstream media seems to have forgotten how to actually report news since covid. It’s a lot for a body to take in. A lot for a nervous system to absorb. And after watching for a few days and travelling the ups and downs of the political dramas (this guy had 200 people at his rally, the other guy had 5,000; this guy won’t disclose his financial information) I had to turn off the fire hose of information.
I decided that I don’t have to attend every soap opera I am invited to. Especially ones that might weigh heavy on my nervous system. I could come everyday and watch and worry about this poll and what will happen if that guy wins. Who did this or that? Or as my mother used to say, whose ox is being gored. I know it will be a lot like those old soaps, shit will happen but I don’t need to get any on myself.
In deference to my sanity I will forgo the 36 day soap series. There is a saying that God is in the details but in cases like this I think he forgets to show up.
I have my opinions. I will vote. In fact I think it would please my father to hear me say that if the party I am voting for ran a turnip I would vote for it. If I learned anything watching those soaps as a teenager I learned the value of a sense of humour.
