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Her televisions buzzed with round-the-clock chatter from national media outlets about presidential scandals, policy issues, congressional votes, Supreme Court rulings and every other topic that caters to tens of millions of viewers. She couldn’t get enough of it.

Nearly every time I visited her home, TV news anchors kept her company with “breaking news,� “news alerts� and “exclusive interviews� through a nonstop, 24/7 cycle of politically biased news. With a deadly serious tone in their voices, they sounded to me like Chicken Little fear-mongers, warning viewers that the sky is falling -- somewhere in our country.

My mom knew all the news of the day, and all the dirt underneath the news. The gossip. The allegations. The mudslinging. The controversy of the day. I once joked with her, “You know, I think you have a secret crush on Donald Trump.�

She scoffed at the notion. I laughed at her reaction.

She was continually surprised that I rarely watched any national media outlets. Fox News. CNN. MSNBC. Ugh. No thank you.

“I’m just not buying what they’re selling,� I repeatedly told her.

They’re selling partisan politics like a cheap consumer good. And because it’s relatively inexpensive or free, viewers can’t get enough of it. Especially if those viewers are older or lonely or gullible or angry about something. It scratches an itch that comes back every day, sometimes every hour.

I watched it firsthand with my mother for many years. I didn’t mind, though. It kept her informed, curious and engaged with the world spinning around her house with fierce velocity.

This all began to change when her physical condition worsened and colorectal cancer was diagnosed. Her favorite cable TV news shows still kept her company in the background, but her health became more of her focus.

As her cancer progressed and chemotherapy treatments poisoned her body, news of the day mattered less and less to her. Self-preservation priorities took over her life and mindset. National politics took a backseat to staying healthy, then staying alive.

Why care about something that a power-hungry politician said when you’ve vomited nine times in one day from the latest round of chemo treatment. Again, priorities.

As media outlets kept ranting about issues that would kill or harm Americans, my mother withered away on her couch, then her bed, then a hospital bed, then a hospice bed. During her final weeks, she didn’t care about what the president said or what the former president did. She didn’t care about foreign policy decisions, immigration patrols, divisive issues or inflammatory propaganda.

She didn’t care about politics. She cared about the politics of her family.

Was everyone getting along? Did anyone need anything? Were we eating OK?

At one point, my mom was dangerously dehydrated and needed medical intervention. At the hospital, a doctor had to coax her to let ice chips melt in her mouth. She needed several days of IV treatments, but the ice would at least be a start.

After the doctor left her room, my mom looked at me with sickly, sullen eyes hanging over her drooping medical mask. “You must be thirsty,� she said softly, handing me the cup of ice chips. Her selfless gesture melted my heart.

This is what mattered to her, the well-being of her loved ones. Not what Joe Biden did. Not what Donald Trump said. Not what political sycophants told TV news anchors that day. None of it mattered. None of it should.

All of that nonsense was stripped away by life’s more pressing concerns. Love. Family. Peace. Joy. Faith.

You won’t hear much about these topics on those national media outlets or social media "news" apps. Such silly things don’t make money in our country, don’t get the highest ratings, and don’t get the online clicks. Not like fear, chaos, confusion, anger and hatred.

As a newspaper columnist, I’ve witnessed the final days of people on their death bed. I’ve watched them take their last breath, just as I watched my mother take her last shallow breath. None of them cared about politics. They cared about their life, their loved ones and a possible afterlife.

Every day, all of us are given a fresh opportunity to choose how we spend our time and what to focus on or obsess about. We can choose love, family and health, or we can choose fear, chaos and anger. It’s as simple as that and as complex as that.

On Monday, Congress officially certified President-elect Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 election, paving the way for his inauguration in 12 days. This news delighted his supporters and disgusted his critics. And that's fine. But it won't matter when our life's hourglass is almost out of sand.

On our death bed we shouldn’t be thinking or obsessing about national politics or presidential personalities. If you do, you’ve made a grave mistake in your life. Your most valuable possession isn’t your political party or presidential choice or favorite media outlet. It’s your fleeting amount of time.

You can realize this now, or you can realize it on your death bed. The choice is all yours.