"Surviving Ireland"

The island of Carnananaunachán - coordinates redacted.

Here in Canada, The Great White North, the snow veiled blanket of Winter is being finally flung off and we're all very anxious for warm temps and bugs. I'm kidding about welcoming the bugs of course, but definitely not kidding about warm temperatures, if we can all only get a grip on our online distractions. If we can only manage to pull ourselves away from our addiction to the myriad of technical devices, in order to fully enjoy the coming seasonal weather, engaging fully in our relationship with each other after surviving yet another Winter,  in spite of snow and ice storms that took place on the first day of Spring's arrival.

If you find yourself laying awake in the middle of the night, with Spring fever like me, contemplating life and happen to have the CBC radio turned on, you might be listening to RTÉ Radio 1 from Ireland. The innate story telling ability of the Irish is always so entertaining, thoughtful and sometimes very moving.

 Last night when listening, my first thought was this doc was a legitimately serious program, that addressed a particular malaise most of us seem to be afflicted with, or should I say addicted to. We can't imagine ourselves living without our technical devices and opt out to communicate with one another behind a computer screen instead of face to face. We appear to be more involved in interacting online and out of touch with our person to person real life relationships. What is most concerning is how this addiction, like many addictions is being passed on to our children.

I won't go down that mucky worm hole, and say that this program was fictional and very funny, but with an underling message and statement about reality that we all can afford to really think about and address.

In my opinion humour is one of the best ways to call attention to, or even celebrate our human state, be it positive or problematic, relating to social, political or personal issues. The RTÉ Radio 1 Comedy production Surviving Ireland  certainly does this.

 Be forewarned, dry toast and a mucky hole is involved.