The Curse of the Cursed TV

I went to visit a woman in the hospital recently.

It would have been a very good visit, except she had the television on.

The cursed TV seems to attract my eyes like a magnet. I look away, only to find myself staring again a moment later. It's like magic, a kind of bondage. I try to break free and actually talk to the person I'm talking to, and I fail. (Women seem to do much better at this than men; they multitask better. I refuse to believe that means they're smarter--though it's possible)!

So, here I was at the hospital, talking to this dear woman I consider practically a sister, and repeatedly found myself staring at these guys in a shark cage while big sharks tried to eat them.

OK, I'll admit that was pretty heady stuff, but that wasn't why I was there!

What is it about television, anyway?

I look back in time, and see a group of men scratching themselves by the fire, and one of them begs the other, "Tell us a story!"

That's how it started. We all love to hear a story.

And now, thousands of years later, we men sit around a TV scratching ourselves, and say, "Tell us a story!"

Which would be okay, except for two things: How bad television is now, and how much time we waste.

We know all about the bad. I remember when comedies were actually funny ("I Love Lucy," "Andy Griffith," "The Jackie Gleason Show") and drama was intelligent and didn't depend on gun play, disgusting autopsies and explosions to keep you interested.

Now we have reality show players who "form alliances," betray each other and engage in drama as if they really don't know only one person is going to win.

But really, I'm actually glad television is so bad now (though I still gripe, don't get me wrong).

Television's lameness makes me less inclined to watch and more free to do other things. Except on those nights when I'm really exhausted (that's about every third night).

Sometimes I can even walk away from a television set! Though that took years of therapy.

I like this because I have wasted hundreds and hundreds of hours in front of a TV.

And I think one day Jesus might ask me why. And I won't have much of an answer.

Perhaps we should all spend less time watching people's pretend lives on television and live our real lives ourselves. Perhaps we should cheer less for sports teams who don't even know us and play ball with people who do. Perhaps we should use more of that TV time to read the Word, get to know Jesus together, talk with each other and laugh.

Maybe I should try that.

Since "Amazing Race" is between seasons anyway.

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ" (I Cor. 10:31).