I have decided to try something new. It has been rather difficult lately to find the time and inspiration to sit at the computer(or anywhere else for that matter) and write. My fear that I would abandon my blog and never return to posting on a somewhat regular basis led me to one of my favorite sites, The Quotations Page. I've decided that when material is hard to come by, I will pick a quote that speaks to me and write about that...so here is the quote for today:
"I hate television. I hate it as much as I hate peanuts. But I can't stop eating peanuts."-Orson Welles
This one made me laugh out loud and I'm sure that if my husband and daughter (both of whom I am constantly reminding of the need to "kill our television") knew that I was writing this, it would send them both into hysterical fits. I have often wondered why it is, despite the fact I have threatened more than once to throw our television into the street, that whenever I have the house to myself the first thing I do is grab a blanket, head for the couch and grab the remote. The quote by Orson Welles holds the answer. I hate television for the same reasons I crave it...it is a mindless addiction. I don't particularly like peanuts, but put a bowl in front of me and I will eat them...because...they are there...and they are salty, and crunchy and they are there. Likewise with the tv.
It may not be salty and crunchy, but worse, it requires no energy on the part of the watcher(I don't count pushing buttons on the remote), the programming is filled with escapism of every kind, including watching other people's "reality", the choices are seemingly endless and the news channels...oy, don't even get me started. It seems to me we have built an empire on turning one person's misery into everyone else's entertainment.
Of course I realize that balance is the key, as it is with everything else. I don't crave television at the beginning of my day, when I am full of energy and would much rather read, exercise, go outside or play games with my kids. It is only after I spend a full day trying to convince the other members of my family that they need to be doing those things instead of watching tv, that I feel the craving for the mind-numbing properties of that shiny silver box. Then, when I wake up with a tv hangover from falling asleep on the couch in front of cheap entertainment, I regret the headache, the irritated eyes and most of all, the time that's been wasted that I will never get back.
