Over the past two weeks, as the national press and Democrats have cared deeply about Jeffrey Epstein and political buzz has amplified Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s lurch leftward, the more Americans are offline. And the more they spend away from the constant Sturm und Drang of twenty-four-hour news, the less they care about these stories. Our well-being increasingly depends on being unplugged from the sensational stories designed to keep us angry and engaged.

This week, millions of Americans will go to work thinking about when to thaw out their turkeys (start today), which sides to cook, what time to head off on travel and living arrangements for company. As they drive out, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jeffrey Epstein and even President Donald Trump will not be at the front of their minds unless they are pulled into social media and cable news.

Millions of Americans will head out for the holidays and pass houses in which nameless and faceless residents live. They will pass by nameless homeless people, some holding cardboard signs asking for help. In some of the houses, people will be living not just paycheck to paycheck, but beyond their means with budgets stretched thin, stress piled up and Christmas coming.

The holiday season is often a time of despair and depression. The wants of the year and the petitions and prayers have not arrived at all or as planned and the sands in the hourglass are almost out. The bills have piled up. The favorite loved one has died or moved. Some, restless because they cannot unplug from politics, will not just be miserable, but will make others miserable. The family members who worship at the altar of politics will not be able to enjoy the season because someone somewhere will have uttered something online with which they vehemently disagree.

Americans these days, all of us, are really good at letting others shape our emotions, temperaments and outlooks. Again, the less we are online, the happier we are. The less we stew over the news we cannot control, the happier we are. But too many of us want to be miserable, confusing ourselves for God’s sovereignty, assuring ourselves that if we just post this one thing on social media or spend five more minutes obsessing about this one news story, we can single-handedly shape events. Why be thankful when we can be angry, resentful and obnoxious?

Through it all, we have missed the signs of family or friends struggling, depressed, despairing or in need of help or hugs. We have ignored the homeless man in our backyard for the homeless issue unsolved in Washington. We have thanked God we are not like those other people, while not being thankful for our daily bread. We have not loved our neighbors and done to others as we would have them do to us because they are otherized or are otherwise unknown to us. It is hard sometimes to love what we know and even harder to love what and who we do not know.

Now is the time to thoughtfully and deliberately reconsider where we are in attitude and temperament. The angry middle-aged men on social media with the similar haircuts and plaid shirts, convinced the Muslim horde is just over the hill or the progressive is just about to win, might want to pause just a minute and think about the line at his local food bank. The mom who cannot stop tweeting because her experience differs from the data reflecting the common experience might want to put down the phone and wonder which friend has become withdrawn, perhaps over embarrassment about needing help and not wanting to ask.

Some friend or relative of yours reading this right now is in dire straits, but has too much pride to ask for help or is too embarrassed or afraid of being a burden on others. If you put down your phone, turn off the news and breathe, you might realize you have the power to reset the condition of a neighbor, friend or family member with an invite to Thanksgiving dinner or even just by smiling.

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