02-10-2004, 01:10 AM
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Confirmed User
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 4,552
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Quote:
Originally posted by Carrie
Saying "deal with it" is the same thing as saying "give up".
I got this in my email yesterday, it's kinda poignant.
With all the hub-bub about the superbowl half time show, thought this was a timely thought....
A few months before my 7th birthday, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small Arkansas town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this
enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted, and was around to welcome me into the world a few months later. As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young mind he had a special niche.
My parents were complementary instructors: Mom taught me the word of God, and Dad taught me to obey it. But the stranger? He was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies. If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always had the answers. He knew about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future! He took my family to the first major league ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry.
The stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn't seem to mind. Sometimes, Mom would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to her room and read her books. (I wonder, now, if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.) Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home. Not from us, our friends or any visitors. Our long time visitor however got away with four letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush. My Dad was a teetotaler who didn't permit alcohol in the home, not even for cooking. But the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (much too freely) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing.
I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked, and NEVER asked to leave. More than forty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you were to walk into my parents' den today you would still
find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk, and watch him draw his pictures.
His name?
We just call him TV.
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Here's an idea - get rid of the television.
Problem solved. |
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