I recently came across a story about a man in NYC that was putting feet under his environmental beliefs by doing everything within his power to make the lowest negative impact on the environment as possible. As you can see from the story, he and his family are going a lot further with their one year experiment than most of us would be willing to go. One of the things that had to go in his experiment was the TV, and therein was the part that struck me.
The removal of the TV was done strictly for environmental reasons, and had nothing to do with programing. The unanticipated aspect of this was a new level of family activity, participation, understanding, and togetherness. As he put it, instead of everyone vegging out in front of their own TV’s watching their own programs, they were now doing things together, and having a great time doing it. It was also having a positive effect on friendships, as invited guests and friends interacted with various games and activities and conversations, instead of focusing on an electronic device.
Following WW-II , when unlimited mobility and the elaborate home entertainment systems we take for granted today were still in the distant future, people looked to existing community/social organizations, and formed new ones, to provide their social outlet. All of these activities were participatory, in that the dance, the play, the skit, the talent show, the card party, or whatever it was, didn’t happen unless friends and neighbors were interacting in the planning and execution of the event, making it happen, and being a part of the happening. As a result friendships were formed, people actually knew their neighbors, and cared about them; and lot of improvements were made by people not only seeing a problem, but having the motivation to solve it, much in part due to the friendships and associations gained from their social interactions.
Arm chair quater backing as to what happened to change our attitudes and outlooks is not the point of this blog. The point is that we (collectively speaking) have allowed ourselves to replace interaction with others, and the creativity and activity that goes with it, with and electronic device that makes no demands on any of the aforementioned aspects and conditions us to respond in specific ways. One needs only to be creative enough to operate the remote control.
TV has it’s place. I have one, and I watch it, while admittedly not nearly as much now as in the past. Community activity and involvement also has it’s place, and in the general scheme of things, will reap far greater personal as well as collective rewards and satisfactions than will parking ourselves in front of the tube evening after evening.
The Grange has a track record of successes, both in relation to the betterment of society, and to individuals. This record was accomplished by the creative efforts of its members, coupled with the desire to work with neighbors and friends to reach the desired goal. We stand prepared to continue that work, welcoming new friends, their ideas, and their willingness to make our community as well as our greater community a better place to live; while at the same time making it possible for the individual to enjoy the accompanying personal development and satisfaction of having an opportunity that otherwise would not have existed.
Al Fine |
