Of Mind Transportation

According to my web stats someone from Boznia and Herzegovinia visited my blog yesterday. It's extraordinary to think that a person from such a far away and unknown place (to me anyway) could stop by to read about something so inconsequential as my battles to keep a hen in captivity. But therein is the beauty of the Internet and before that (and still) television and before that (and still too) radio.

Last night I was watching "Strangeways" about life as an A grade prisoner in a top security prison in the UK. It's a fascinating programme taking you behind the think walls of a prison giving us the opportunity to look in on a world that the vast majority of people will neither experience nor otherwise see. As I watched I couldn't help but wonder if there's a feel good factor to watching what is actually an account of some very sad wayward lives. Does it make the viewer feel good watching others whose lives are clearly at rock bottom and unlikely much to improve even in the short to medium term? Maybe.

Radio can produce a similar experience. Listen to the midnight shipping forecast and the news of gales for all the poor souls who have to make a living from the sea and you can't help but be grateful for what you have. You may have very little but it's a whole lot better than being out in a force 10 gale lashed by icy cold seas.

The mind is a curious thing. You often need to take it to strange and unpleasant places to make it feel comfortable just where it is.