The wealthy and wise Benjamin Franklin once described the route to his stature was to go to bed early and rise early. In response, I have made it my New Year’s resolution to follow this credo. This has caused me to examine why I have, up until now, been unable to follow through on this.
I have come up with a multitude of reasons. The top five are listed below:
Lost
So you think you can dance
Smallville
Fringe
Battlestar Galactica (now Caprica)
As you may have noticed, they are all wonderfully entertaining television shows. I do enjoy them so. I found that I would sit and watch them with my laptop warming my lap so I could convince myself that I was actually accomplishing “work” while zoning out in electric lit bliss. This is similar to what I would tell my parents and friends about my viewing habits when I was in film school; “It’s research!”
Which brings me to my point; our nation has lost a great deal of wealth, a great deal of health and a great deal of wisdom in the last 50 or so years. It started right about the time that primetime broadcasting was created (must see TV). Now I am not saying that entertainment execs did this to purposefully create a lazy, slavish culture (although I would not put it past them). But that seems to be the effect. We are now in the age of distraction with more video games, movies and television shows than there are hours in a decade, and more being created everyday.
As I work to make adjustments to myself, I pray that I do not succumb to the mind-numbing that can so easily take hold. And I pray that my fellow Americans can detach from these chains long enough to see that the happiness that God has given us the right to pursue does not live in an electric box, and it can be more effectively pursued with a good night sleep.
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