Did you ever see that movie The Gods Must Be Crazy? A village of bushmen are living a normal happy life, working and getting along and satisfied with all that they needed. A coke bottle dropped from an airplane lands in the village, and life for the village takes a drastic turn. Suddenly there is something that everyone wants to possess resulting in jockeying for position and trickery and fighting, all over this gift they believe was sent to them by the gods.
About 15 years ago DH and I made a choice to give up tv. We had a tv, we just turned it off and let cable go. It has still been here. When we became parents we decided to wait to see if it became an issue with the kids, and it really never did. On occasion they may have missed it, but for the most part I’m happy with our decision and with the books that have been read and relationships that have grown in the time that might have been spent in front of the tv. The old tv worked well for watching videos on, and in times of something big like presidential debates and such we could hook it up and get a snowy picture.
This fall our baby goes off to college. Maybe it’s goofy, but I started thinking about how very quiet this house was going to be with them all gone. I’ve been trying to remember what DH and I did around here before kids. A tv kept popping into my thoughts.
So, guess what I got for Valentines Day?! DH knows I’m a sucker for the Winter Olympics and he surprised me. K and I have had a blast watching every night. So far, that’s all I’ve watched. But then there was the night DH needed to go to bed early, and the coke bottle television is in our room. I couldn’t watch the Olympics! I got myself all in a snit for a moment. Well, for a while. And then I realized how much I do not want my life to be centered around a tv. He slept, I read, and we were all just fine.
I do not want to have to worry that I’ll have to lug that thing across the country to try to throw it off the edge of the world like the bushmen finally did with their coke bottle!
5 comments:
I wouldn't mind having a small TV in the kitchen. Then I could watch/listen to Seinfeld reruns while fixing dinner.
I've not watched one second of the Olympics, but sometimes read the news stories the day after an event.
Remember back when people would subscribe to the TV Guide magazine?
donna
I understand completed about silence without children. Mine have been off at musical rehearsals in the evening and suddenly it is very silent. We have several TVs, but rarely do we watching anything. This week, I've been sucked into watching the Olympics -- if only because it's lonely and quiet around here.
Ohhhhhhhhhhh those TVs and Winter Olympics are"Slippery Slopes".
Wish we didn'thave one. Grandbabay Daddy will have nothing to do with pulling the plug but it is crack to a woman with a husband on the road and a low energy after a busy day.
This is a great story and a great analogy. Wish we did less TV, but it now is just the background noise of my life. You were very brave to raise kids without it. I truly respect that decision.
I've been enjoying the Olympics immensely. I even watched curling last night on the Canadian channel.
Wow! I think this is so interesting. I've never seen more posted responses to a topic on your blog!
My hubby and I are tv junkies, no doubt. I would watch less, but it is sort of our time "together". I was jim's first wife 6 years ago and he had no kids. I think TV was his companion. When he teaches late, I rarely watch and sometimes do other things while watching with him- like reading blogs!
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