One of the greatest blessings of my life is that my Mom had the guts to not have TV.
Yep. I grew up in the 1960s and 70s with no TV.
My folks were not especially strict or puritanical. They didn’t tell us TV was wicked or “Hell’s sewer straight into your home.”
They just simply and positively said we don’t need a TV. OK, there was a little bit of the right kind of snobbery too – sort of “We’re better than that.”
So what did we do? We read books. We played outside. We created our own amusement. Where did we end up?
One brother became a successful and creative businessman. Sister married an artist. Brother married an artist, is a teacher, paints, restores old stuff and builds anything. The other sister got a PhD and wrote several books.
We’re not so great, but we do have a kind of creative bent. Also – we got something from my Mom’s decision she never planned: we got the oomph to buck the tide, do something different and have the backbone to say, “It’s okay. I don’t care if everyone else is doing it. We’re not going to.”
That’s the Amish in us.
Over the years I’ve had a TV now and again, but when we moved to the USA from the UK, we didn’t bother. We didn’t know the TV shows or the actors, and we really didn’t have time for all the dumb commercials. (Brit TV has no commercials on the BBC and fewer and more entertaining ones on the commercial channels.)
So why not get rid of your TV? Go ahead. Do it.
When is the last time you’ve ever seen anything on TV that built you up intellectually, spiritually or socially?
There is good stuff, but you can get that good stuff on DVDs from the library or streaming on Netflix or Amazon.
Sports? Why not go out and play more sports rather than watch them, and if you must watch a big sports event – find another way to do it.
TV? You can live without it.
You’re better than that…
| “My heart is open for all of you. Receive it! These are the graces that I spread to all my children who invoke me (Our Lady has spread from her hands holy rays of light)... Turn off the television. Do not watch the television. In these days, there is nothing of worth on television. Pray a lot. Pray the Rosary because the world needs many prayers. Pray and do penance. If it is possible, pray the Rosary every day on your knees for a week. You need to do penance for your sins. You need to listen more to my messages”. (Our Lady to Edson Glauber, 5/11/94). |
| Pope Francis said in an interview with the Argentinian newspaper La Voz del Pueblo, that he has not watched television since 1990 after making a promise to the Virgin Mary. The Pope said that he had decided that “(TV) was not for me, I have not watched TV since 1990. It’s a promise that I made to the Virgin of Carmen [Our Lady of Mount Carmel] on the night of 15 July 1990..” |
Fr. Dwight Longenecker is pastor of Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church in Greenville, South Carolina, and author of several books. Visit his website: http://dwightlongenecker.com – Reprinted with kind permission.
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