There was a plane in the Hudson river?

Four years ago I missed the inauguration.  Entirely.  I didn't hear the president's address, see the photos, or know who sang the national anthem (the Navy Chorus - I just looked it up on Wikipedia where it turns out everything I might want to know, and somewhat more, is collected).  I was away making the Spiritual Exercises and so wasn't watching TV, trolling the webs or even seeing the newspaper.  At the time I remember thinking it was strange that so many people were watching this event, and I was not.¹ Shortly after I got home, I read the inaugural address, but I didn't do much else to catch up on the news that I had missed.

Fast forward to a year later, when I sat down with my tea and turned to page two of the newspaper to find a photo of a plane in a river. What??!  And what was it doing on page two, and why hadn't I heard anything about it on the radio?² Because it was the anniversary of the event and the entire news cycle had come and gone while I was holed up at Eastern point on retreat.  Which was somewhat of a relief, I will admit.

This year I listened to the inaugural address on the radio, and saw it through the eyes of Crash who walked from WJU to the Mall to see it.   But as I sit here, on the edge of Lent, it has me wondering what I'm looking for in the news (and despite my abstinence from television, make no mistake about it, I am a news junky), why do I read it?  It's clear that the universe will continue to turn whether or not I know about it.

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1.  I also missed the SuperBowl, but didn't think about that until just this minute.
2.  Full disclosure, I don't watch TV³ even when I'm not on a 30-day silent retreat.  It not a political or any other kind of statement, I just slowly fell out of the habit about fifteen years ago.
3.  Well, I do watch the occasional series on the interwebs.  Downton Abbey.  Mad Men.  Scandal (!)