“Instruct a wise man and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning” (Proverbs 9:9)
Schools are starting now that summer is over. Competition for placement, admissions to colleges of choice and permission to take select courses drive students to do whatever one can to get a head start on all others. Ambitious young people encouraged by involved parents will enroll them in whatever will offer them the opportunities to advance: Language programs, training in physical and technical areas of study, speed reading, and in a word, whatever will provide them with a leg up on their peers. Anything that will help them do their best to excel—anything except the best way: Get rid of the television sets. Do without them. But will it be done? Not likely.
In a questionnaire several years ago presented to children, they were asked if they would choose between their fathers or television. A startling number said they preferred the television. Were we to poll entire families to consider if they had to choose the television or indoor plumbing, I should imagine at least for some the response would be: “Let’s think it over.” Television has so invaded our modern lives and dominated how we think, what we think, and the way we formulate our decisions and opinions that it would require a major adjustment in our life styles to do away with TV. Earlier this month along with our Youth Group, we canoed along the Mohican River in central Ohio for several hours. We passed by scores of Winnebagoes and ordinary tents occupied by families who “just had to get away” from the routine of their normal lives; however, nearly every one of them had the pie pan shaped receivers from the TV stations. Getting away has a new definition in our times.
What indeed would a family miss if they were to go “cold turkey” for a month or more? Visual debris of advertisements selling what one doesn’t need, trivial sitcoms that regurgitate the banal plots that any child over eight can predict before the last commercial, news that one feeds on and is about as long-lasting as the last bag of popcorn.
And what do you gain if you as a family fast from television watching, at least for a week, just for a trial period? Time. Time to reflect, relax, stroll around the neighborhood and talk with one another. What is really going on in the lives of those whom you say you love at each parting? More, read—not just the newspapers and what comes in the mail, but the books you should have read in school days. The best gift parents can offer to their youngsters is to find the fun classics and read them aloud. Encourage the children to take their turn reading whole chapters. Take them to the library, get them a card and escort them to the sections where their interests lie. I would encourage Orthodox Christian young families that regardless of how serious the Lenten fasts are kept involving the foods that are not eaten, a more productive discipline would be to fast from all electronic entertainment and learn the joy of silence. Capture the delight of using the imagination by reading. Learn to write a journal and keep track of what’s going on in the thoughts, plans, frustrations and victories of the mind.
It’s not pleasant to make this observation; nevertheless, it holds true for the most part. The separation between achievers and successful opposed to the mediocrities and time servers in society have a great deal to do with those who have learned to think, plan and prepare for the future, and those who just wait for whatever happens to happen.